Orion and Ariel: Their Story
by theautobotprincess
Summary: In a story of Orion Pax and Ariel, Ariel's point of view is told through her journal in high school! Ariel's world is changing, for the better and for the worse. For the better, she finds what she thinks is true love! For the worse-her world is falling apart, and a dangerous threat is arising. How is she supposed to get by when her world is full of inequality, violence-and love?
1. Chapter 1

**Here's my next fanfiction! By the way, this story is not in any way tied to my other stories, except for the fact that I may use OCs from other fanfics! In this fanfic, Elita, currently Ariel, has decided to keep a journal of her experiences in "high school." This whole fanfic should take place through Ariel's point of view!**

 **Please leave comments and suggestions for me in the reviews section so that I can make future chapters and fanfics even better!**

 **Here is the first chapter! I hope you enjoy it!**

Chapter 1

My first day of the 9th grade! I have been looking forward to this moment ever since I, well, started school!

I suppose I should introduce myself; my name is Ariel, and I am about to attend the 9th grade! I have wanted to keep a journal ever since I was young, but I figured that none of my experiences in the younger grades were as exciting as high school is going to be!

More about myself: I live in Iacon, one of the most developed cities in all of Cybertron! I have two sisters names Chromia and Arcee, Arcee the youngest, Chromia the second youngest, and me the oldest.

My dad is a manager of one of the divisions in the factory he works in, although I can't quite remember which one. His name is Commander. (Yes, that's his full name. My mom usually just calls him Comm.) I look nothing like my dad, and I mean nothing! Chromia resembles him more than anyone but just barely. The only similarity is the green-colored armor.

My mom, Selene, is the one that we all get our good looks from! She has pale, pink armor along with dark blue accents. Her armor has sharp but smooth edges, and her optics are the most brilliant shade of blue! We all got the blue optics, but Arcee has a violet-blue tint to hers from our dad's optics.

I shall now describe the school that I am about to enter! I now attend Iacon High School along with my friends Bumblebee and Moonracer! I have known them even before we went to school, since our parents are all great friends.

The school is grand and inviting! From the outside, you can see crystal-blue window panes lined with dark gray poles. The front lawn is beautiful, with energon crystals of all colors growing and benches to hang out on. There are a few benches next to some metal shrubbery that seem to be placed just perfectly for a place to study!

The inside is even more grand! When you first enter, there is a huge dome-shaped room with large energon crystals hanging on rods from the ceiling. There are exits all around the walls to different parts of the school.

I don't know a terrible amount about the school, since I haven't had much time to tour around. According to my schedule, I have my first class through exit B and down at the end of the hallway, where I turn right and come to a stop at the end of that hallway. There is a biology classroom right beside it, my history class, where I go next.

The history room seems rather dull, with few decorations and a teacher's desk pushed way to the back. I see a few strange switches that are off, and there is nothing that they could go to from my line of sight! I am very tempted to flip one and see what happens, but I am afraid of setting off some sort of strange alarm, so I simply try to find a seat so I can set down my heavy books.

I search the room, but there are no desks or chairs to sit down in, only cushions arranged neatly in rows on the ground. I don't pay attention to where I'm sitting and plop down on a simple, blue cushion.

"Ariel!" a voice calls out to me. I turn around and spot Moonracer sitting on a cushion behind me. I can't believe I didn't notice her!

"What classes do you have?" I asked as I turned around to face her, grabbing my projector from my bag and pulling up my schedule.

She does the same, and we both compare our schedules. "We have physical education and astronomy together!" I exclaimed. It was not uncommon, from my recent experience, to have more than one science subject in the same year.

"What about lunch?" Moonracer asked frantically as she noticed that she had the second lunch and I had the third.

"What lunch does Bumblebee have?"

"Third," a voice replied, and we both turned our helms to spot our black-and-yellow friend sitting beside me.

"Bumblebee!" we both cried as we embraced our old friend.

"If you and Ariel have lunch together, then who am I going to sit with?' Moonracer cried.

"You could sit with me," a new voice replied, and we all turned our helms backwards and spotted a scarlet mech with dark blue optics eyeing Moonracer.

Moonracer slowly swayed back and forth at the sight of the handsome mech and drealily replied, "Uh huh, sure! That sounds wonderful! Oh…"

Bumblebee crossed his arms with a slight look of jealously. "Aw, is someone jealous?" I pouted playfully as Bumblebee elbowed me and chuckled.

"No! It's just that, well, I just checked your schedule while you weren't looking, and we don't have any other classes together besides this and if you count lunch."

That made me jump for a moment, since the three of us had always stuck together. None of us were really good at making new friends.

"I don't know anyone, though! Who am I supposed to talk to?"

"I have a friend who has all of your classes."

"Who? You never told us about your friend!" I demanded.

"His name is—oh, he just arrived now!"

I turned to the doorway to spot a blue and red mech with strong-looking armor plating. He had blue optics that were even more brilliant than my mother's, and he had a strong but soft look. I couldn't help but quickly look down as he turned to face us.

"Ariel, this is Orion. Orion, this is Ariel."

I didn't look up. I had always been on the shy side, but I had never felt this shy before! Was this something new that only happened in high school?

Bumblebee tapped on my shoulder and forced me to gaze upwards. I almost melted at the sight of him, just like Moonracer had with the other mech!

Orion was about to take a seat beside me, but another mech quickly rushed over and sat beside me. I inched away and towards Bumblebee at the sight of this stranger.

"Orion, are you trying to steal _my_ femme again?"

I carefully turned my helm towards the other mech. He was handsome but not as much as Orion. He had dark blue armor with yellow accents and one of those phony smiles that you saw on TV.

I scoffed at him. "Uh, excuse me? Do I know you?"

"You should! We've gone to the same school since our first school year!"

It took me a moment, but I finally realized who I was looking at. "Sentinel?" I asked in astonishment.

"You bet!"

I groaned. Sentinel had liked me since the first school year, but I never paid any attention to him. "Sentinel," I sighed, "you know that Orion was going to sit there. Give him back his spot."

"Then Bumblebee will have to move!"

"No, no one will have to move but you, Sentinel."

"Ariel, please!" he begged, keeping his phony smile but trying to act cool for the other femmes.

I stared him down until he finally moved to the cushion behind him, allowing Orion to take a seat next to me.

We sat quietly for a few moments until I asked, when Sentinel wasn't looking, "So, what's the history with you and SentineL?"

"I'm…not certain. Sentinel, I believe, has a feeling of jealousy towards me. And I never 'stole his femme.' I guess that just talking to another femme is an offense on Sentinel's behalf."

I chuckled at this, and Orion and I went into a conversation about Sentinel's past and all of the goofy things he's done to get my attention that even I didn't know about!

A boring-looking teacher stepped to the front of the room. I have to stop writing now. Until later!

~Ariel

 **What do you think of the first chapter? If you have any ideas for funny moments with Sentinel or anything like that, please share in the reviews!**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I would like to thank Optimusprime227 for the nice comment and suggestion! I'm so glad that you enjoy my fanfics!**

 **This chapter will take place right after Ariel's last entry, which was right before class started.**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 2

I know I said before that history class was probably going to be boring, but wow! It might just become my favorite class!

In my first entry, I mentioned the strange switches on the wall that didn't go to the lights. Turns out, they go to something even cooler! The whole history room, when one of the flips is switched, turns into a huge, domed room that projects a map of Cybertron! My teacher, despite her older age, tells us to call her #HistoryRocks, and we had to chant that 3 times before she would reveal the 3D map, but she won't tell us her real name!

'#HistoryRocks' has steel-colored armor and a more rounded body. Her optics are covered by an eye-glass-like shield, and she has navy blue joints. Her optics are a bright yellow, and she mostly just tries to stand tall when speaking. When the femmes start whispering to each other, she tries to act scary, but no one is afraid of her.

The lesson today was mostly a get-to-know your teacher game, but all we did was point out different locations on the map, and she would tell us a boring story about each location. They were all about how she fell for this one mech and he fell for her, but I imagine that the truth was twisted a little bit there.

The rest of the day went by fast, and like I said, I think that history is my favorite class! Orion and I happen to have the exact same schedule and the exact same lunch. Bumblebee, Orion, and I all sat at a table near the middle of the lunch room.

While we were eating, Bumblebee remarked, "Someone wants your attention." I glanced over at Orion, who was indulged in a book that the biology teacher had shown him. Bumblebee pointed to his left, and I quickly turned my helm towards the table to the left of ours.

I almost died of laughter as I saw a desperate Sentinel stand up on one of the lunch tables and flex his arms while the other femmes at his table swooned longingly. Sentinel almost fell off the table, and #HistoryRocks grabbed him by his audio receptor and dragged him off the table, tossing him back onto the bench of the table.

Bumblebee fell out of his chair with laughter, and the other femmes were whispering and pointing at the dumbfounded Sentinel. Even Orion glanced up from his book and tried his best not to laugh. It didn't work.

As I followed Orion to take our trays up, Sentinel slid off the bench and landed with a thud on the floor. We both quickly dumped our trays and burst with laughter, just as the rest of the lunch room followed.

Orion managed to not laugh and only let a slight chuckle slip as he approached Sentinel. "Do you require assistance, Sentinel?" Orion asked as he held out his hand.

Sentinel glanced at me laughing behind Orion but took his hand anyway. As Sentinel got back up on his feet, he immediately slammed Orion to the ground, seething mad.

"Stop making fun of me!" he demanded as Orion struggled to get up.

"Sentinel, I was just trying to help you!" Orion pleaded as Sentinel stood directly over him and stared him down.

"I don't require the help of _you,_ Orion!"

Sentinel took his foot and tried to stomp on Orion, but Orion quickly rolled out of the way and got back on his feet. I stood back near Bumblebee and waited anxiously for this to be over.

Sentinel ran towards Orion fast as lightning and knocked him backwards, shoving him into a wall. He punched and punched at Orion as Orion fell limp. Bumblebee had already run off to find a teacher.

Sentinel kicked Orion across the floor and punched again and again! He dashed over to the nearest table and lifted it up, prepared to throw it right at Orion!

"Sentinel, no!" I screamed, dashing over to Orion and standing protectively in front of him.

"Ariel, out of the way!" he shouted back at me, his arms starting to give from holding up the table.

"Never! Sentinel, don't let your jealously overcome your thinking! Please!" I begged.

Sentinel gestured to another mech, a purple mech somewhat smaller than Orion with a screen over his faceplates, and the mech approached me and tore me off of Orion.

"No!" I screamed. "Sentinel, don't!"

Just before Sentinel could crush Orion with the table, a whole set of teachers swarmed around him, forcing him to put down the table. A scowling Sentinel was escorted to the front office, while I followed a medical bot to the medicine wing.

Despite a few scratches, Orion was just fine, although he was left with a painful headache all day. I made it my job to keep Sentinel away from Orion, since I knew that he wouldn't dare hurt me.

While today passed by quickly, I was still left in a bit of shock. Was this how it was going to be now that I was in high school? I wish that it was a rare occurrence, but my conscience tells me it's not.

With teachers who I know I can trust and friends to help me get through, I am sure that I can make it to the end of this school year and still have a great year!

Tomorrow will be a better day, now that I know Sentinel's _true_ intentions.

~Ariel

 **The credit for Sentinel showing off goes to Optimusprime227. Thanks for the idea!**

 **Please leave a comment or a review in the reviews section so that I can make the next chapters and fanfics even better!**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so no more suggestions yet! This chapter will take place the very next day, after yesterday's events.**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 3

I am still on edge today after yesterday's events, although Sentinel most definitely got goofier after failing to impress me yesterday! Today, when we had gotten into chemistry after history and biology, our teacher, Ms. Bubbles (she claims it's just a nickname), told us that we would need partners for a science experiment involving creating synthetic energon.

Sentinel slid over to me and flashed his fake smile, but I pushed him out of the way and asked Orion to be my partner instead.

"Sentinel's just going to get mad again," Orion warned me as we took our seats next to each other.

"But he won't actually do any work except for showing off how strong he is!" I sighed as Sentinel took a seat next to poor Bumblebee. "Either way, he wouldn't get into a fight because some of these chemicals could damage his perfectly-buffed armor."

Orion chuckled at this, and we both watched as Bumblebee tried his best to trade partners. To Sentinel's surprise, he actually succeeded in trading with a love-struck femme who leaned close to Sentinel and almost fainted.

We tried our best to hide our laughs (although we failed) as Bumblebee pretended to breathe a silent sigh of relief. We readjusted ourselves as the teacher came around and handed us our worksheets.

"Okay, so are we supposed to pour in the energon first, or mix the synthetic formula and then add in the energon?" I asked Orion as we puzzled over the worksheet.

"Perhaps we should try gradually adding in the energon as the other pours in a little bit of the formula at the same time," Orion stated.

"That sounds reasonable," I replied.

"I shall go mix the synthetic formula. Wait here, and don't add anything until we are sure that the formula is correct!"

I nodded my helm and watched as Orion joined a few others at the front of the room in mixing their formulas.

Sentinel must have manipulated his femme partner into mixing the formula for him, since he turned around from his seat directly in front of our table and tried to flex again. I turned away, annoyed, and smiled grandly up at Orion as he carried back the synthetic formula. He looked at me in confusion, so I gestured to a jealous Sentinel.

We both chuckled as Orion set down the formula, and we got to work, each of us gradually pouring in our portion of the formula. When both flasks were empty, we were left with a bright green, sticky substance.

"It seems to have the same qualities as regular energon, although more energy is radiated off of this form," Orion told me.

I nodded my head in agreement and stood up to get our test machine.

I looked warily at Sentinel, who was still smiling and flexing at me, and quickly turned around and took my sweet time getting a test machine.

"Hey Orion, I bet ours will work better than yours!" Sentinel called out, laughing as he did so.

"Perhaps, but only if you had mixed your formula correctly." I smirked at this comment and came back with the machine.

"What?" Sentinel exclaimed, throwing his arm back in confusion—just as his partner was coming back with their formula.

Sentinel's arm hit the flask just right to where it flew into the air and barely missed us. The rest of the lab dove under their tables, but the dumbfounded Sentinel didn't budge, and he ended up with a greenish-brown substance all over his shiny coat of armor!

The whole class burst into laughter, and Bumblebee snapped a picture and immediately posted it! Even our teacher was laughing!

"No! I could offline because of you, _Orion!_ " Sentinel screamed in a high-pitched voice that made everyone pause for a moment but burst into laughter again afterwards.

Our teacher managed to catch her breath. "No, Sentinel, you won't offline because of it! If I know that I have clumsy students in my class, do you really think that I would allow you to experiment with harmful chemicals? Besides, maybe you should do a better job of listening when one student warns you that your formula is incomplete."

"How am I going to get this stuff off?" he whined as he failed to scrub off the sticky substance.

"It will come off—in about a week or so."

The whole class burst into laughter again, and the teacher gave Sentinel a sorry-not-sorry smile as she returned to the front of the classroom—just as the bell rang.

"Students, you are all dismissed! Your class clown Sentinel here has volunteered to clean up for you!"

We all laughed, chattering with the other students about Sentinel's little…accident. I could hear Sentinel groan and turned around one last time just to see him scrubbing away with a tiny brush at all the little stains on the floor.

He wasn't finished until lunch, and he had gotten most of the stains except for a blotch on his arm! Orion was helping me with my history homework while Sentinel was calmly flexing for the femmes at his table.

History was my favorite class, but lunch has to be the most interesting time of day! Cold, bolt stew was for lunch today, and none of the students seemed to be enjoying their lunches—except for Bumblebee.

Orion and I both stared awkwardly at Bumblebee as he scarfed his soup down. "How can you eat that?" I asked him in disgust, slowly scooting closer to Orion.

"I can't believe you guys don't love this stuff!" Bumblebee chimed as he chugged down the rest of his soup.

Orion and I both shrugged our shoulders as we picked at our soup and eventually dumped it out.

Sentinel wasn't enjoying it either, and as we both walked past his table, a blue biscuit shot through the air, barely missing Orion.

"Food fight!" a voice declared, and immediately students started dumping their cold soup on each other! Biscuits and fruit cups flew through the air as a few unlucky students (including us) ran for cover!

We both dove under a table, but Sentinel was determined to hit Orion. A few trays suddenly clattered to a halt in front of us.

"Use these as shields!" Bumblebee shouted to us right as he was hit in the faceplates with a pile of noodles.

We looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders, picking up the trays and using them as shields. It was a good thing, too, because Orion was almost hit in the faceplates by a swarm of flying biscuits!

The battle ended when the teachers stepped in.

"Who is responsible for this?" Ms. Bubbles demanded.

Everyone pointed to Sentinel, who was immediately escorted to the office. He glared at Orion as the teachers led him away.

For the rest of the time being, everyone had to help clean up the mess, including us!

This is why lunch has to be my favorite time of the day! The best part is that Sentinel is always the one to get in trouble!

I hope I have time to run and clean up after the cleaning is finished. Despite the shield, I am a mess!

~Ariel

 **Lunch is where most of Sentinel's shenanigans will take place! Any ideas for more mischief that they get into would be great!**

 **Please leave a comment or suggestion in the reviews section so that I can make future chapters and fanfics even better!**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry if it has been a while since I have posted a new chapter! I was busy working on one of my other fanfics!**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 4

It is the weekend! Thank goodness!

Bumblee has invited Orion, Moonracer, and me to his house tonight for a small party. I can't wait! He has asked that we bring refreshments and things to do. I have settled on bringing my favorite game—Quest for the Fountain of Energon.

In this video game, you have to battle these ugly organic beings that look like a squid mixed with a snake mixed with a…never mind. Anyways, your goal is to find the Fountain of Energon so that you can save your village from an energon shortage! Bumblebee, Moonracer, and I have all played it before, but I think Orion should try it out!

I am bringing some carbonated energon juice that I know everyone loves! I'm sure that the others are bringing snack-like foods to share, and Bumblebee always has some good snacks stashed away somewhere!

The day goes by slowly, but the time finally comes for me to leave for Bumblebee's house!

"I'm going now, Mom!" I call out. Mom runs in and embraces me, as well as Dad.

"Arcee, Chromia, your sister is leaving!" Mom calls out to my younger sisters as they casually walk into the room and hug me before running back upstairs.

"Guys, I'm not even leaving for a night!" I exclaim as I turn to leave.

"We know, you're just so grown up, Ariel! Oh, I remember that time when you and Bumblebee—"

"Okay! Mom, I really need to go! Bye!" I said quickly as I opened the door and left, transforming into my motorcycle alt with the game and drinks.

I pulled up into a small driveway and transformed, knocking on the door. I could hear the chatter of 2 mechs and a femme, Bumblebee, Orion, and Moonracer. I could hear one of them sit up and approach the door.

"Ariel! You're here!" Moonracer squealed as she hugged me and grabbed the drinks, setting them on the counter.

I love Bumblebee's house! It is open and cozy, and he has a nice backyard with a few swings and a patio. When you first walk in, to your right, there is a huge TV screen with shelves in front of it for storing movies and games. There are 2 large couches seated around the edges and 3 beanbag chairs arranged in the middle. To the left is the bedrooms, Bumblebee's being on the left while his parents' is on the right. If you keep going forwards, you have a large kitchen with a door straight across from it on the other wall. The office is through that door. Keep going forwards and to the left, that's the bathroom. Go forwards all the way to the end of that hall and you run into a sliding door. From there, you can go into the fenced-in yard.

We will most likely stay in the living room, for now. Moonracer leads me towards the mechs, who are playing a racing game on the big screen. "Nice steering," I tell Bumblebee as he passes Orion.

"You're not bad yourself," I compliment Orion as he passes Bumblebee. They finish their race, and Bumblebee sighs in playful frustration.

"I just can't beat him!" Bumblebee tells me as he puts away the remotes.

"Now you owe me a bag of oil-flavored chewing gum," Orion told Bumblebee as Bumblebee, in defeat, drags his feet towards the kitchen and tosses the bag to Orion.

"What have you guys been up to while I wasn't here?" I asked Orion.

"Not much. Moonracer just got here. My parents had to go somewhere and insisted that I come to Bumblebee's house early," he replied.

I nodded my helm. I hadn't missed much. "Speaking of, where are _your_ parents?" I asked Bumblebee.

"They won't be back until really late, when you guys have left," Bumblebee replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"What should we do, then?" I asked.

"How about some TV?" Moonracer suggested, grabbing the remote.

She switched through the channels, coming to the news. "Does anyone want to watch this?" she asked us with a look of disdain on her face.

"No," I replied.

"Not really," Bumblebee said.

"Maybe some other time," Orion said as he shrugged his shoulders.

Moonracer shrugged her shoulders as well, but before she was about to change the channel, I called out, "Wait!"

"What is it?" she asked me.

"There's a warning on the screen."

The usual blue-green reporter came onscreen, and on the bottom the screen flashed, 'WARNING! THERE HAS BEEN A THREAT ISSUED BY THE TERRORISTS.'

"Terrorists?" I asked in confusion.

"There have only been rumors," Bumblebee told me, "something about a rebellion against the caste system. No one has really worried about it—until now, I guess."

"Oh."

My family has a caste somewhere in between the rankings, but that doesn't mean we like it. Dad often complains about his workers getting hurt in the factories, but all the managers do is replace them with other workers waiting in line for their turn. Mom used to work in a factory as well, but after speaking out against the low wages, she and a few others were fired. She has sworn to never work in a factory again, so Dad has to keep working to afford for our family. We aren't poor, but we aren't wealthy either.

The news reporter came on again. "Just last night, a threat was issued by the terrorist group known as the Decepticons. Last week, a museum in Kaon was bombed, killing over 200 Cybertronians inside. At least 4 dozen were injured in the surrounding areas. There has been a recording made by an undetectable voice issuing their next move."

We waited anxiously in front of the TV for the recording to come on, and after a few moments, a recording with a deep, scratchy voice started issuing the threat. "The reason for these acts of terrorism are merely to bring the Council's attention towards the caste system."

"Merely?" I whisper-shouted.

"Let's just listen," Moonracer said as we turned our attention back to the recording.

"Therefore, unless the High Council is willing to make changes, these acts of injustice will continue. Tomorrow, during the late night, 12 students, who have already been carefully selected by my advisors, will be taken from wherever they may be that night and brought to my base of operations. There, they will help me complete a project that even my advisors cannot complete. Don't even try to send the authorities after them—the students will only be returned _unharmed_ if this project goes smoothly. We will collect the students late this night. The only way that this will not take place is if the Council is willing to bring an end to the caste system. We are the Decepticons. We do not want war, but rather, peace, and if the means to achieve peace comes from these acts, then so be it."

The recording ended, and we sat there, stunned.

The TV reporter came back on and introduced the High Council. A recording of a meeting with the High Council came up, and we listened, hoping that the High Council would be willing to do something for a change.

"We are the High Council. Our job is to watch over Cybertron and make sure that the caste system is running smoothly, not to put an end to the system that has worked flawlessly over the years."

"Flawlessly? Innocent Cybertronians are killed every day in the factories and the gladiatorial pits, and 12 student lives are in danger!" another Cybertronian shouted to the speaker. The screen was blurred, so we could not see any of the faces.

"We have guards placed all over the cities. The 12 students will be safe," another member of the High Council concluded.

Protests rang out from the crowd and from us, so Moonracer quickly turned off the screen.

"Guys, I'm scared. What if one of us is a student that the Decepticons want?" I blurted out after the screen was off.

"We'll keep safe," Bumblebee assured us.

"Maybe we should all head home," Moonracer suggested as she cautiously stepped towards the counter to grab her bag.

"No!" Bumblebee, Orion, and I all shouted in unison.

Moonracer looked at us, wide-eyed. "We can't leave! That's probably just what the Decepticons want!" I pleaded to my friend before she could take off.

"Ariel's right. Our best bet is to stay at my house for the night until we know it is safe," Bumblebee agreed.

"What do we do in the meantime?" Orion questioned.

"We should hide," Moonracer suggested fearfully.

"Oh, come on now! I'm sure it'll be—"

Bumblebee was cut off by a sudden knock at the door. We all eyed each other silently, trying to convince the others to open the door. Bumblebee sighed in defeat and whispered, "They probably wouldn't kidnap me. I'm not as smart as the rest of you." We all chuckled quietly at Bumblebee's remark. "If I tap my foot on the ground once, that means that you're safe. If not, go and hide in the basement."

Another knock. "Go behind the kitchen counter!" he urged us as he made his way towards the door. We scrambled behind the kitchen counter and waited for Bumblebee's signal.

He opened the door, and we braced ourselves. "Move," a gruff voice said as 2 heavy sets of footsteps entered the room. Bumblebee didn't tap his foot to let us know it was safe.

I gestured to the others to cram by the corner of the kitchen, and I quietly removed a metal panel, revealing a steep ladder that went underground. Moonracer went first, and Orion gestured for me to go down next as he held up the panel. The footsteps we coming closer.

Orion leaped down with us and silently closed the panel behind him. We were in complete darkness all the way down the ladder. When I had reached the bottom, I fumbled around a bit until I found a light switch.

"That's a bit better," I heard Moonracer say quietly.

"What is this place?" Orion asked us as he gazed around at the basement, filled with tables of drawings and bookshelves full of hand-made books.

"We used to call this our secret base," I explained to Orion. "We went on 'secret missions' and recorded our findings in these books. They usually involved digging holes in the backyard or in here," I explained, gesturing to a huge hole in the corner of the basement."

"We actually found some pretty cool stuff in there, like some minerals. Believe it or not, one time, when we were digging, we found a huge time capsule filled with these blank books!" Moonracer exclaimed.

"The note in the time capsule was from an author from ancient times who was very sick but wanted someone to pick up where he left off on his research. He left us these books and the capsule to record and display our findings. It was quite fun!" I told Orion as I handed him the note within the capsule.

"I can't believe you dug up this whole time capsule! Does anyone else know about the basement and the capsule?" Orion asked us.

"Bumblebee's parents said we could have it as our 'secret clubhouse', but we never told them about our capsule or our findings," Moonracer said as she flipped through some of the old books.

"Do you guys still use it?"

"Sometimes, but not as much as before. I've missed this place," I told Orion. His blue optics darted around the room, and he couldn't seem to process everything! I don't blame him—when we first found the capsule, we couldn't process it either!

"I guess it was just luck that we found it," Moonracer said as she gazed around the basement as well.

"Nothing like that is luck," I told her, "it's fate."

We stood there in silence for a few moments until we heard a soft knock on the trapdoor. We all froze and readied ourselves, in case whoever had barged in had found us.

"Guys? Let me in, please!" a familiar voice called out as it continued knocking. "Guys? We're all good now!"

I climbed up the ladder and let Bumblebee in. "What happened up there?" I asked, and we all waited anxiously for Bumblebee to step down off the ladder and give us the answer.

"These guys came in, and they were searching for you and Orion, Ariel." We gasped in fear and waited anxiously for his next reply.

His faceplates lowered. "I told them that you guys weren't here, and they actually believed me."

"Okay, they believed you! Now that they've left, what is there to worry about?" I asked Bumblebee upon seeing the sadness in his voice.

"They—got your sisters."

"What?"

"Your parents tried to stop them, but they got your sisters anyway."

"No…" I breathed. "It can't be! It just can't!"

I was in tears now, unable to contain myself. I plunged to the floor and started crying hysterically. "No! It isn't true! It just can't be!"

Orion kneeled beside me and tried to comfort me, but nothing was going to work. Absolutely nothing.

"I'm sure they'll return them," Orion reassured me.

"But they also want _us!_ If we don't turn ourselves in, then they may hurt my sisters and the other students! We have to go back."

"Ariel, wait!" Moonracer called out to me before I could leave. She turned on the smaller TV that we put in the basement and turned it to the news.

"The threat has unfortunately been carried out almost as planned tonight, although only 10 students were found. Another recording sent just 10 minutes ago states that the project will continue as planned, even without the 2 other students. Among those captured were 2 sisters named Arcee and Chromia, a group of 5 friends known as Starscream, Shockwave, Soundwave, Knockout, and Firestar, a set of twins known as Dreadwing and Skyquake, and one very young student named Wasp. According to the recording, all students should be returned in front of the Iacon High School in 3 weeks. It may not take as long if the other 2 students turn themselves in. The Council states that it is the students' choices on whether or not to turn themselves in. Orion, Ariel, if you're out there somewhere, lay low, and keep in mind that your comrades are safe. We do not need to lose 2 more students in one night."

"My sisters better be safe and returned in 3 weeks, or else I'll, I'll—"

Orion stopped me from going upstairs. "Like the reporter said, we need to _lay low._ "

"But my parents—"

"Will be alright knowing that you are safe. Your sisters and the other students will be returned safely."

"How can you be so sure?"

Orion pondered his answer, seeming to carefully choose his words. "I just—know."

~Ariel

 **Sorry that it took a little while to post this chapter. I was working on another fanfic!**

 **Please leave a comment or suggestion in the reviews section so that I can make future chapters and fanfics even better!**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 5

I have grown sick of just waiting around for the Decepticons to release my sisters and the other students, and it has only been an hour since I heard the news.

I have been pacing around nonstop! I can't stand the feeling of my sisters being at the mercy of the ruthless Decepticons!

"I just can't!" I shouted out loud, although I wanted it to stay in my head. "Sorry," I told my friends as they all glanced worriedly at me.

"Ariel, your sisters will be released—all in good time," Moonracer reassured me, although I could sense her doubt as well.

"What are we supposed to do in the meantime?" I exclaimed, throwing my servos in the air. "I don't want to leave my sisters there! I don't want to leave anyone there!" I was crying now, sobbing heavily into Moonracer's arms. It went like this for the next hour, each of us glancing uncomfortably at the others as the night drew on. Time wasn't helping—I just couldn't leave them there.

I had finally had it. Quickly sitting up and bouncing to my feet, I cried, "I can't stand it! All those students are forced to work, despite the undoubtedly horrible conditions they're in!"

"What do you propose we do?" Bumblebee asked frustratingly, burying his helm in his servos.

"We should rescue them. We can plan a rescue team and head out tomorrow night, and that way, the Decepticons won't see us coming!" I explained, trying to encourage them and brighten the mood.

"We need some sort of distraction, something we can use to get past and lead the students to safety," Orion processed as he leaned on the table and thought out a rescue plan.

As I pondered over this, an idea struck my helm. "I've got it!" I exclaimed, causing the others to stop what they were doing and dart their helms towards me.

"Orion said that we needed _something_ to use a distraction. What about… _someone_." I smirked and folded my hands together, waiting for the others to pick up my meaning.

Orion was the first to do so. "Someone loud and obnoxious enough to keep the Decepticons busy."

Moonracer caught on next."Someone who would do _anything_ for Ariel."

Bumblebee looked dumbfounded for a few moments, but he still caught on. "Someone like—"

"Sentinel!" all four of us exclaimed in unison, causing us to burst into laughter at the same time.

"He did say that he would do _anything_ for you," Orion reasoned, still laughing.

"But he's also sort of a coward. Who says he'll do it?" Moonracer pointed out.

"I think it's at least worth a shot," Bumblebee said, and we all nodded our heads in agreement. We had to at least try.

"We'll set out tomorrow night, since it's already starting to get lighter," I explained.

"In the meantime, we need to figure out a way to get Sentinel to help us," Orion reminded us.

~Ariel

 **Sorry that this chapter is kind of short! The next one will be longer, I promise!**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Happy Valentine's Day! Sorry about the last chapter being so short! By the way, if you haven't been receiving emails about new chapters for any of my fanfics, I believe that there is a problem with the site that should hopefully be fixed soon. I have heard of this happening in the past.**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 6

We waited in silence until it grew close to dark. "We'd best find Sentinel now, or else we'll have to wait until tomorrow," Moonracer announced, much to our pleasure.

"How do we plan to get out? Ariel, you and I are still wanted by the Decepticons," Orion asked, and the rest of us traded secret glances. "What?" he asked, confused.

"It's not a secret clubhouse without a secret entrance," I explained, smirking as I stepped to one wall. After feeling around, I found a loose brick and pushed on it. The bricks around it folded back on each other in a neat pattern, revealing a dark passageway.

Bumblebee, Moonracer, and I held back our laughter as Orion's jaw dropped, and he stood there in silence, waving a shaky servo at the opening in the wall. The three of us were already halfway through the tunnel when I turned around and went back for Orion.

"Come on," I chuckled as I tried to get the stunned Orion to follow me. He didn't move. "You have to go, silly!" I laughed again as I tried to pull Orion along, but he was too strong for me. I could see a small smile form on his lips, although he tried to hold it back, as I attempted again to pull him along. This time, pulling with what I thought was all my strength, I caught Orion's eye and saw his smile. I immediately dropped what I was doing and started laughing, causing me to fly backwards and go crashing into the wall.

I could hear Orion's laughter as he slowly approached me. Holding back all of my laughter, I sat there in a pose like I was hurt. I could tell from the moment that Orion ceased laughing that he thought I really was hurt. I stayed like this until he kneeled down in front of me.

"Ariel, are you all right?" he asked, holding out a servo to help me stand. Quickly changing my expression to one more playful, I pushed him back and leaped in front of him.

"Ha! Gotcha!" I exclaimed, running towards the tunnel. "I'm gonna beat you to the other side!" I exclaimed as I jumped backwards and took off running.

"Not if I beat you first!" Orion shouted back at me as he tore after me.

I glanced behind my shoulder as I continued running, a smile upon my faceplates. It quickly turned into a more serious but still playful smile as I saw Orion catching up to me. I turned around again and burst off at full speed, Orion still gaining on me.

I turned my helm just in time to watch Orion slide in front of me and beat me to the other end. I came to a halt and bent down, laughing so hard that I fell over and rolled on the ground. Orion knelt down beside me and laughed along, and as I sat up, I caught his vibrant, blue optics.

They were so deep, and with the other trapdoor barely open and letting in a sliver of light, they shone even brighter than before. The blue was so deep, I felt like I was drowning in his optics! I didn't even realize I had been staring, so I quickly looked away and watched as Orion stood up. He held out a servo to help me up, and this time, I took it. We stood there in silence, and I finally brought myself to look up and gaze into his optics once again. I felt my spark tremble, and I stepped closer to Orion. He didn't flinch.

"Um, ew," a voice called out that made us jump. I turned around to spot Moonracer folding her arms with Bumblebee standing right next to her, trying to hold back his laughter.

"S-sorry, Moonracer. I got—distracted," I stuttered, unsure how to make up an excuse for my friend.

"There's no time for that! We need to get going—now!" she demanded, opening up the second trapdoor and climbing up the ladder to the outside. Bumblebee shrugged his shoulders and followed, and Orion and I joined them once Bumblebee was out of the way.

We stepped into the darkness, Orion and I still embarrassed from before.

Suddenly, a bright flash blinded us, and we all fell backwards as the light blinded our optics.

"Well, well," a voice that I was sure I recognized stated, "what are you four doing out so late?"

"Sentinel?" I gasped, shying backwards from the mech.

"You got it," he said, flashing his phony smile and holding out a servo to help me stand. I glanced down at it and ignored it. Sensing that I wasn't going to take it, Sentinel pulled his servo back and scanned the others. He paced to the end where Bumblebee was, then back towards me, then back again, stopping in front of Orion.

Before he did anything rash, I decided to ask Sentinel about the rescue plan. Putting on my sweetest face ever and trying not to choke on the words, I gagged out, "Sentinel, would you be willing to—help me with something?"

His gaze shifted from Orion back to me, and I flashed the brightest smile I could manage for him. He flashed his phony smile back at me and held out his servo once more, which I took. As Sentinel helped me up, I glanced back and spotted a confused Orion. I winked at him, causing him to send me a short smirk before I turned back around to face Sentinel.

"Now, what is it you need help with, my dearest Ariel?" he asked innocently, closing his optics and flashing another phony smile. I quickly turned towards Orion and made a gagging motion as I turned back towards Sentinel.

"Well, you see here, my sisters were among the students that were sadly taken last night by the Decepticons," I explained, giving the others a thumbs-up.

"Oh, my, that's just terrible," Sentinel mourned, trying to act as sympathetic as possible, but I knew better. "What do you propose _I_ do?" I spotted Orion's look of disgust as Sentinel emphasized " _I_ " and smirked at Orion.

"Well, you see here, my friends and I have a plan mapped out to rescue the students and my sisters, but we need someone to serve as a distraction so that we can sneak them out! Will you be a distraction? Please?"

I watched as Sentinel's phony smile faded and he glanced back towards my friends. "Do I have to work—with them?"

"It would please me very much if you did," I replied, flashing him my sweetest smile.

Sentinel returned it and answered, bowing to me, "If it would please you, Ariel." I gave him another phony smile and did a fake, flirting sort-of laugh.

"Shall we leave, then?" Sentinel asked.

I giggled again, fake-gagged to the others, and replied, "Yes, let's."

~A grossed out Ariel

 **The reason for the short chapter before was because I didn't feel like I could include a huge transition in that chapter. Again, Happy Valentine's Day!**

 **Please leave a comment or suggestion in the reviews section so that I can make future chapters and fanfics even better!**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 7

"So, where do we start looking?" Sentinel asked us. I had told him to give me some personal space, so he stayed a few steps away from me. We were strolling through the streets of Iacon, and we were coming close to Kaon.

The rest of us looked anxiously at the others. We hadn't thought of that. "Um, where do you suggest?" I asked Sentinel.

"Um, somewhere...deserted?" he suggested, rubbing the back of his helm.

"Or someplace in plain sight that no one would ever think to look," Moonracer said as we stopped in front of Kaon's city gates. We looked confusedly at her until she pointed through the openings in the gates.

I put a hand over my mouth to stop myself from gasping! Through the openings in the gates, I could see students, along with one of my sisters, pulling carts of construction supplies towards the center of Kaon. With what must be Decepticon troopers following them. With their guns at ready.

"We have to go in and get them!" I whisper-shouted to the others, who shook their helms madly. "Why not? And why aren't there any guards placed in Kaon?" I hissed.

"You haven't heard?" Sentinel whispered.

"Heard what?"

"The Decepticons have taken over Kaon! No guards can get past them and into the city gates without being shot on sight!" Bumblebee whisper-shouted back at me.

"Then, how do we get in?"

"Isn't Sentinel supposed to be a distraction?" Orion pointed out, causing Sentinel to jump.

"Oh, no! You are _not_ making me go in there with those scary guys and their guns!" Sentinel huffed, folding his servos and leaning up against the gate.

"Then why did you agree to come in the first place?!" Moonracer groaned as she peered through the gate again. "Uh, guys?"

"What?" we all sighed in unison.

"See for yourself."

Each of us whipped around and peered through the gate…and I almost fainted at the sight.

Arcee. Being the youngest sister, she was many grades below me in school, and she also wasn't extremely strong. I gasped in horror as she failed to lift a huge, metal panel and collapsed to the ground, her strength depleted. A Decepticon trooper approached her and kicked her in the side, forcing her to get up and continue work.

"I can't!" she gasped as she was kicked even harder in the side and thrown against a large building in the city.

"Get up," the trooper repeated. She didn't move. "Commander Starscream," the trooper said, "one of the students is refusing to work." There was a low, scratching sound emitting from the trooper's audio receptors, and the trooper nodded in reply. "Understood."

The trooper turned to face other frightened students who were nearby. "Students, go inside the headquarters and wait until you are instructed by another officer." The students nodded their helms and quickly dropped what they were doing and ran inside.

The trooper turned back to face Arcee. "I've always wanted to do this," he chuckled, lifting up his gun—and pointing it right at her.

I quickly fumbled with the gate latch and burst through it, despite my friends' protests. "NO!" I screamed as I dashed in front of my sister and stood protectively in front of her.

"All students must report inside the headquarters," the trooper sighed as he stood idly by, waiting for me to move. I didn't budge.

"Your leader said that all students will be returned _unharmed_. Does _this_ look like unharmed to you?!" I screeched, gesturing towards my terrified sister and the trooper's gun.

"Look, I'm just following orders, and I—wait." I stood still as the trooper held up a datapad and looked at the datapad, then back at me, and then back down at the datapad. "You're one of the students who we failed to capture. You must be Ariel!"

The trooper sounded excited, and I slowly backed up closer to my sister. "Commander Starscream, I have my sights on Ariel, and—" he paused as he saw the others run in and make their way towards me, freezing when they saw the guard. "And Orion Pax," he stated, and I was sure that if I could see his faceplates underneath that mask, there would be a large smirk.

More chatter came from his audio receptors, and I felt like I should run, but I didn't want to leave the others behind. Sentinel screeched in fear, and all of us, including Arcee, looked expectantly at him. Our helms darted towards a large building that had to be the 'headquarters,' and we almost followed Sentinel's lead!

What looked like over four dozen troops came marching toward us, surrounding the six of us. A seeker mech with red optics, gray faceplates, and blue and red accents came marching toward us.

"I am Commander Starscream, and you 5 must be the intruders I was sent to collect," the seeker, Starscream, addressed us.

"One of _your_ troops was trying to kill _my_ sister!" I exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the troop who had almost shot Arcee.

"Yes, that was per _my_ instructions," Starscream mused. All of the sudden, Starscream let out a high-pitched shriek and jumped about 10 feet into the air, causing the rest of us and a few troopers to let out a chuckle.

"STARSCREAM, YOU IDIOT! I TOLD YOU TO NOT ISSUE ANY COMMANDS UNLESS IT WAS PER _MY INSTRUCTIONS!_ " a deep, menacing voice shouted through Starscream's audio receptors.

"My-my apologies, my liege. It-it's just that, well—"

"SECURE THE PRISONERS AND BRING THEM TO THE HEADQUARTERS, _NOW!"_ the voice cut off Starscream.

Starscream grumbled to himself, something about things being better if _he_ were the leader. He straightened himself up and turned to address the troops. "Secure the prisoners and bring them to the headquarters!" Starscream ordered, and I could see the look of disdain for his leader upon his faceplates.

The six of us froze as 12 Decepticon troopers approached us, gun on one servo and stasis cuffs on another.

"This…wasn't part of the plan, right?" Sentinel gulped as they made our way towards us.

"It is now," I replied frantically, just as stasis cuffs were slapped over my servos.

~Ariel

 **I know that it has been three days since I have posted a new chapter, but I have just been so busy! Any ideas for what could happen next would be appreciated!**

 **Please leave a comment or suggestion in the reviews section so that I can make future chapters and fanfics even better!**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry about the somewhat wait on this chapter!**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 8

The last thing I saw was a Decepticon trooper approach me and slap stasis cuffs on my servos, along with everyone else's—except Orion's.

When I woke up, we were in a square cell that reeked of neglect and spoiled energon. I gazed around and found Sentinel, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Moonracer all asleep on the cold, hard floor. I quietly shook awake my sister and my friends (so, not Sentinel) and gathered with them in the corner.

"Do you think we should wake up Sentinel?" Bumblebee whispered as we peered over and spotted Sentinel barely stirring on the floor.

We all looked at each other and decided, "Nah!"

"What are we going to do, then?" Moonracer asked. She was shaking and was almost vibrating! I was afraid that she might leak a little transmission fluid.

"If you need to go, you'll have to hold it," I sighed, causing Arcee to giggle a little.

Moonracer glared at me before exclaiming, "It's not that! I just—" She suddenly paused and shifted her gaze downwards, seemingly embarrassed.

"Hey, I was just joking. I'm sorry," I apologized to my friend.

"No, it's fine. I just—" She paused again.

"You just what?" Bumblebee asked, trying not to sound annoyed, but I could tell he was already getting sick of this.

She took a deep breath before replying, "You guys promise you won't make fun of me?"

We all nodded our heads and swore an oath to not laugh at her. "So, what is it?" I asked.

"Well, I'm kinda sorta—claustrophobic."

We all sat in silence for a few moments, but we made no show of thinking it was funny, including Bumblebee, who was always a jokester.

"I'm afraid of heights," Bumblebee admitted.

Moonracer scoffed. "You? Afraid of heights? Is this the bot who took us to Six Lasers Over Cybertron and made us go on the Plasma Curve, even though we had to wait for megacycles just to get on?"

Bumblebee scoffed at Moonracer this time. "Don't you remember how I threw up the oil-glazed funnel cakes while we were _on_ the ride, and it flew into that guy's face who was unlucky enough to be behind us?"

"Oh yeah," Moonracer said, going back to the memory. I remembered it, too. We never figured out who that guy was, since we took off to the other end of the park before he could get to us. Until just now.

"Yeah, that 'some guy' was me," a familiar voice that made us all sigh before turning around exclaimed from behind our backs.

We turned around and spotted Sentinel partly storming and partly trying to keep his cool (wherever it may be) while coming over to us.

"That was you?" Bumblebee exclaimed. "Yes!" Bumblebee folded his servos into fists and pumped them up in the air with excitement.

"Oh, you better watch your mouth, _bug_ , or else I'll—" I quickly stepped in front of an angry Sentinel and a triumphant Bumblebee before things got ugly.

"Okay, guys, we all need to learn to get along now, all right? Especially since we're all being HELD CAPTIVE BY THE TERRORISTS WHO BOMBED A MUSEUM AND TOOK OVER KAON!" I yelled that last part, hoping that the Decepticons could hear me.

Everyone went stiff as the familiar sound of Commander Starscream and Decepticon troopers, along with heavy footsteps that we didn't recognize, were echoing down the halls. It was at this point that I wish Orion was here to comfort me, and I was kind of upset that the Decepticons didn't put Orion with us. Could Orion be a traitor? I tried to remove the thought from my mind, but it stuck in the back of it.

The footsteps ceased, and a metal panel in the wall slid open.

~Ariel

 **Sorry about the wait on this chapter! I've been pretty busy and don't have as much time to write these stories!**

 **Please leave a comment or suggestion for me in the reviews section! Any ideas for future chapters, plots, or suggestions on things I could improve on would be great!**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I am sorry that this has taken a while for me to publish! I have been unable to login to even create a document. At least I got it eventually, though!**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 9

The panel slid open and bounced against the walls, making a loud, scratching sound that caused even the footsteps to cover their audio receptors.

We gazed up nervously as a towering, silver and violet bot with spiky armor and clawed servos grinned at us with jagged, scraped teeth. "I take it you are the other student?" the silver bot asked me in a calming yet menacing way.

I didn't move. Instead, I scooted backwards and into the corner, glaring all the while. The others stayed together in another corner, not daring to move. My glare turned into a smirk. "I take it you're Megatron, leader of the Decepticons?"

Megatron's grin didn't cease. "So you _do_ recognize me," he replied.

I had nothing left to say, so I stayed bunched up in the corner. "Come along, dear Ariel. We promise that no harm shall come to you." Megatron ushered me towards him and the guards, but I didn't budge.

Starscream had been among them, as I suspected, and he invited himself in, quickly approaching me. He smirked as he reached down to grab my servo, but I kicked him right in the faceplates before he could do so.

"She will not take orders from us. You would be wise to remember that, Starscream," Megatron said slyly as Starscream rubbed his sore faceplates and growled, storming off as the troopers stepped aside.

"I'm not coming with you," I stated plainly, continuing to stay in the corner.

"I am aware," Megatron stated. "That is why I brought back-up." Megatron swiftly stepped aside to reveal—Orion? I hadn't noticed him behind the towering Megatron.

Orion worriedly raced over to me, and I gladly embraced him. "Orion, who are these people? And why didn't—" I suddenly pushed him away. "You're a traitor!" I hissed, and Orion sighed in defeat and gazed to the ground.

"Ariel, I'm sorry that this happened. I just couldn't stop it! I never meant for my brother to—"

"Wait—your brother? You mean to tell me that _Megatron_ is your brother?"

"Yes, he is, and I tried to tell him that he shouldn't do this, that there was a better path!"

"Why did you go along with it, then?"

"At first, it was about discussing matters with the High Council about the caste system, which we both appose. My brother and I grew up poor, and it was all because my parents couldn't afford for us. We weren't allowed to visit the fun places that your caste has access to, like Six Lasers over Cybertron, and—"

"Wait a second—you couldn't even go _there?"_ I was stunned that I didn't know how divided the castes really were! I mean, I knew that there were some that were below us, but I never knew that they were _so_ below us that they couldn't even go to amusement parks!

"I-I'm sorry. I should have told you the truth. I just didn't want to scare you—"

"I understand, and it's for the best," I reassured Orion.

"You didn't let me finish." Orion took a deep breath before saying, "Ariel, I really liked you from the moment I met you, and I was just afraid of, well—"

"Scaring me away?" I asked, causing Orion to smile.

"Yes," he replied, picking up my servo and helping me up. He pulled me closer to him and whispered into my audio receptor, "We need to get out of here. My brother will make us both do something rash if we do not escape."

"What about the others?" I whispered back.

"All of the others except for your sisters and another student joined up with my brother. We will find the other student and Chromia, and we will leave."

I turned back towards an impatient Megatron and whispered, when Megatron's back was turned to us, "How do we get past him?"

"We're going to go with him and demand that the others come with us, and then we will escape once we know what my brother is after."

"Wait—you don't even know what he wants?"

"No. All that I know is that it is something that holds great power, something about wisdom beyond imaginable."

My optics widened. "Like the Matrix of Leadership! But only a Prime can access it."

"He intends to steal it, and with guards no longer placed all over Cybertron, he can easily search wherever he wants for it. That is why we need to find it."

"I understand," I replied. Standing up straight, I cleared my throat, causing Megatron to whip around and face us expectantly.

"Megatron, I will go with you, but only if everyone in this cell, Chromia, and—" I whispered the last part to Orion, "What's the name of the other student."

He cleared his throat before whispering, "Firestar."

"Firestar! Yes," I commanded. Megatron silently debated with himself for a while, but he finally agreed.

"I will allow them all to accompany you," he replied. "Are those your only conditions?" Megatron asked, holding back a smirk that was just dying to form.

It was a very strange question, but I reluctantly replied, "Yes?" I turned towards Orion, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

As Megatron turned to leave, the others excitedly joined us, and we followed close behind, Vehicon troopers surrounding us as we walked.

After a brisk walk down to the end of that hallway, Megatron opened two, large doors and gestured grandly into a large, round room, Decepticons of all sorts standing all around the room with their helms held high.

Megatron whispered something to a blue-and-yellow seeker that I recognized as one of the students. He barely glanced at us as he left the room, more than likely retrieving Chromia and Firestar.

We passed a purple, faceless mech that I recognized as Soundwave. Sentinel must have recognized him from the day he tried to take down Orion, since he foolishly broke away from us and approached him.

"Hey, I remember you! From that one day—right?" Sentinel asked foolishly. The mech continued staring on. "Hey, do you think you could at least get me and Ariel out of here? Since we're kind of friends…since we met—once."

The purple mech lifted one, slender servo and pointed towards us. I happened to be standing the closest to them.

"Yes, I know that that's Ariel! Now, can you get us out of this?" Sentinel whined, stomping his pede on the ground and folding his servos.

The mech continued pointing, and it was then that I realized that Soundwave was pointing to an amused Megatron. Sentinel realized it too, and he made the dumbest shocked face that I had ever seen when he realized that all of the Decepticons, including Megatron, were staring at him.

"It would be wise for you to join your group," Megatron stated, and Sentinel hung his helm in embarrassment and shuffled over, coming to a halt beside me. I scooted over a few steps and turned my helm back up to Megatron, who had looked like he was about to address us before.

"Now, as you can see, a fellow group of friends, including my brother, thought that they could rescue their students, without any weapons or means to call for back-up. Either way, this is a benefit to the Decepticon cause, since I need both Ariel and Orion to retrieve something for me."

"No way!" I declared, and Orion nodded his helm in agreement.

Megatron's grin sliced even wider as the yellow-and-blue seeker from before returned, with both Chromia and a bright, red femme that I guessed was Firestar—in chains?

Before Megatron could continue, I interrupted, "Excuse me, but if you did not bind the rest of us, then does it seem fit to bound my sister and Firestar is they are in the same position as us?"

Megatron's neutral expression turned into a smirk. "Now, now, Ariel, your conditions were that the other two _join you while you were with me_. I believe that your conditions have been met."

Orion and I shared a wary gaze. What could he be up to?

Megatron continued his speech: "Seeing as the High Council has failed to listen to our demands for a caste-free society, I believe that we need to make an example of how serious we are regarding the castes. That is why we have two 'randomly selected' participants who will sacrifice themselves for the Decepticon cause. Dreadwing, if you please." Megatron gestured towards the seeker holding my sister and Firestar.

"No!" I declared, trying to rush towards my sister and the other student, but a trooper grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. "No, stop it!" I declared, lunging myself away from the seeker.

I gasped as Dreadwing handed them to Starscream and Soundwave, who lead the two to the very back of the room, where a large bomb was held down. Starscream pinned the two writhing bots onto the explosive, grinning evilly as he did so. I dashed towards the bomb, and I turned back around and saw Orion following me. "Don't try to stop me!" I shouted back at him as the bomb's timer began.

"I'm not going to stop you! I am going to help you!" he declared, shoving troopers away from him as he made his way next to me.

The Decepticons and Moonracer, Bumblebee, Sentinel, and Arcee all fled the room as the bomb's timer ticked down to one minute, but we kept on going. We made it to the bomb, and I tried desperately at the bonds, but they were too tough to break easily! As I continued tugging, I managed to get Firestar free, and she fled with the others.

The timer was down to only 30 seconds, and the bonds just would not break! "Orion!" I shouted as I gave up on tugging. He tried to free Chromia as well, but to no success.

"Get out of here, both of you!" my sister screeched as the timer ticked down even more.

"Not without you!" I shouted back as Orion and I tried again to break the bonds.

The timer was down to 10…9…8 seconds, but I was not giving up! Before we could continue again, a sudden blast of air made us both jump. Starscream grabbed Orion and me and transformed, pinning us down to his back as he zoomed away.

"No! We're not leaving my sister!" I shouted back, but Starscream continued flying away.

The automated voice on the bomb declared, "3…2…1. Get clear of the area."

I turned back and choked in a sob as a fiery explosion filled the night sky. "No! Chromia!" I sobbed as ashes rained from the sky and Kaon was reduced to rubble.

I buried my helm in Starscream's armor and fought back desperately, tears escaping my optics. "Oh, no you don't!" Starscream exclaimed as he took off even faster. My agony was too great that I stopped fighting and closed my optics as Starscream transformed and landed with both of us.

Arcee, Sentinel, Bumblebee, Moonracer, Firestar, and all of the Decepticons were patiently waiting.

Arcee warily approached me. "Chromia?" my younger sister asked softly. There was a pause, and I shook my helm. Arcee cried out and lunged herself at me, and I hugged my sister tight as we both sank to the ground, despite everyone staring at us.

When I regained the strength to sit up, Firestar slowly approached me. She had kind, blue optics and red-and-orange armor. "It should have been me," she whispered softly, giving me a small hug.

"Chromia would have made me get you free first, either way," I whispered back, and Firestar gave me a guilty look before trudging off.

Orion came up next to me and gave my shoulder a small squeeze. I tried not to look up, tried not to let Orion see my tears, but I did anyway. I threw myself into him and buried my helm within his armor, sobbing hysterically as he held me close.

"Well, isn't this a nice pity party," Starscream taunted, and Arcee and Firestar both shot him the same death-glare.

The silence stretched on, and I drowned out everything else. Carefully twisting my helm up to meet Orion's optics, I whispered, "I will not let that monster tear any more families apart. Whatever it is he's after, we need to get to it first."

Orion nodded his helm back at me, and I turned my helm with it still leaning against Orion's chest and gazed back at the rising smoke in the distance, carrying ashes up into the air and distributing them all over Cybertron.

Some of those ashes were Chromia's.

~Ariel

 **I am sorry about the sadness of this chapter, but every good story has to have a life-changing moment, right? Please comment about what you thought about this chapter!**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Now that I have finished one of my fanfics, updates will come a bit faster for this fanfic!**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 10

Megatron and the other Decepticons quickly led us out of the open field, and I didn't struggle. It was too late for my sister, and it was almost too late for Cybertron.

Almost.

Megatron did not even address my deceased sister, and I knew he was doing everything in his power to convince us to seek out the Matrix. It was working, although we would not be reporting back to him with it.

"Fellow Decepticons, we must begin the search for the Matrix, although I must first clear things up with the High Council. After the recent—incident—" He turned to me and smirked, and I bowed my helm in shame. "—we will have to discuss our ideas with the Council and have clearance to search for the Matrix! After all, Cybertron's Elite Guard will be all on us after—"

I interrupted, "Do you really think that the High Council will grant _you_ permission to search for the Matrix after you murdered dozens of Cybertronians?" I folded my servos, but Megatron's smirk only grew.

"No, I don't think that they would grant me clearance. But they might grant it to my brother." He gestured to Orion, and I frowned, confused, at him, but Orion simply stood there silently, ashamed that he would have to help his power-hungry brother conquer Cybertron.

"Orion? Would they?" I asked quietly. He did not reply.

"By all means, we must get going now if we ever want to have a chance of even entering the High Council's room!" Starscream exclaimed, transforming, and a whole seeker armada followed his lead.

"Starscream, you fool! We cannot just barge in there without being taken into custody!" Megatron exclaimed, causing a few of the seekers to transform back.

"But, my liege, I—"

"STARSCREAM, GET BACK DOWN HERE AND AWAIT MY INSTRUCTIONS!" Megatron shouted at him, and the cowardly seeker shriveled down in fear as he took robot mode, the seekers following him.

"Things would have been smoother if _I_ were leading the Decepticons," Starscream muttered.

"What was that, _Starscream?_ " Megatron asked smugly, putting him on the spot.

"Nothing," he muttered, turning away from the group and sulking on the ground.

"Now, Orion, Ariel, I believe you two the best fit for the job. If you don't go straight to the High Council and retrieve the Matrix—" Megatron aimed his large cannon at the cluster of Arcee, Sentinel, Bumblebee, Firestar, and Moonracer, who shriveled back in fear, "I think you know what happens next."

I held my breath, just waiting for the cannon to fire, but Orion tapped my tense shoulders and gestured to us to get going. I released most of the tension and followed him, transforming into a simple cargo car and him something very similar.

We rode on, and I caught up to Orion and asked, "How are we supposed to even find this Matrix?"

"I have experienced dreams suggesting where it might be," he replied, and I frowned to myself.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't know what they meant until now."

We stayed silent the rest of the ride, and after driving through city after city, we finally came upon the High Council's building, transforming and pausing just to gaze at its magnificence.

"Whoa," I breathed as I took in the large, golden dome. A grand staircase lined with energon crystals, some stolen by those who couldn't afford regular energon, made up the front and led to a grand door with inscriptions about the original 13 Primes. One of the inscriptions told the sad story of Solus Prime, who was murdered my Megatronus in a battle between the two, and her body became the Well of Allsparks that powers all creation today. It is a sad story, but it is one of romance and sparkache.

It didn't feel right stepping on such a sacred building for the purpose of aiding Megatron, but Orion took my servo and led me up. He slowly pushed on the door, and it creaked open.

The hall was quite empty today, except for a simple, bearded mech carrying datapads, and we could hear the distant chatter of the High Council arguing. I heard the squeal of a few chairs, and I was tempted to shut off my audio receptors before things got ugly.

Another, smaller door that was barely open stood straight across the room, and Orion and I cautiously approached it. We opened the door and were immediately met with protests and shouts, and I was tempted to run back out. When we gazed up, though, we found out that the members of the High Council weren't shouting at us, but at each other.

I cleared my throat, but the bickering just got louder. I cleared it again, but still, they did not listen. Orion tried, and his deep voice shook the whole room, causing the High Council to stop in their tracks and gaze down at the two of us.

The High Council was not how I remembered it in the history books! The members wore grand capes and carried staffs that signaled their caste, but they looked like ordinary bots. One looked not much older than me and reminded me of Sentinel, what with his smug grin.

He turned his optics on me and whistled. "And what do we have here?" he taunted, gesturing to the other mechs among him to follow. They whistled as well.

I stepped partly behind Orion and gazed wide-eyed back at him. _This_ was the High Council? No wonder there was chaos all over Cybertron! Who was the genius who left _them_ in charge?

An older golden femme stepped out from behind the swooning mechs and shoved them aside. "Boys, do not be rude!" she scolded, and I sighed with relief as I stepped out from behind Orion. "I do apologize, although I share a fascination for how you two ended up here."

"No, we just wanted to know how _she_ ended up here," one of the mechs corrected, propping his servos on the balcony and starting to slide backwards. The femme slapped him across the helm, and he whimpered and fell backwards.

"I am sorry about my sons. _They_ do not know how to behave around femmes, especially one as lovely as yourself," the golden femme commented, gesturing to me. I smiled, not much about the compliment but more because _she_ was in charge and not the others. "I am known as Goldenwing, because I am gold—" She turned around, revealing large seeker wings on her back, "—and I have wings."

"Very—original," I commented, sighing at Orion, who was doing his best to stay serious.

"Goldenwing, we would like to concern you about the caste system. It is not functioning well, and—" She stopped Orion before he could continue.

"I do not want to hear another ridicule about the caste system, especially after the last Cybertronian showed up here and demanded to overthrow the caste system with violence and weapons, and—" She shuddered. "It was such a gruesome method."

"May I continue?" Orion asked.

"Is your method gruesome and violent?" she quickly asked.

"No."

She smiled a somewhat-sweet, somewhat-sour smile. "Then please, continue."

"Our vision is one of a peaceful, even society. Cybertronians would no longer have to stick with one career and stay in one area because of the caste they were born into. Instead, we would be allowed to move freely and pursue whatever path we wish. There would no longer be protests and riots demanding freedom! Our world would be known as a free and just society. This is our vision, and it is one of a peaceful, a free world! We do not wish to nag you on, but we believe that our methods would be the most just and non-violent way to ensure peace throughout Cybertron."

Goldenwing nodded her helm up and down in fascination, and we startled when we heard loud clapping, and it wasn't from the crowd gathered on the balcony. Goldenwing and the others stepped aside to reveal the bearded mech from before, and he was clapping grandly and making his way down the steps.

"By the power of Primus, that is something that we have never heard before!" he complimented, approaching both of us. "Peace is difficult to achieve, and we believe that you have just described the perfect and peaceful society that Cybertron aims for! Well done, Optimus Prime, Elita One."

Orion and I frowned at each other. "E-excuse me?" I stuttered.

"Never before have we witnessed such nobility from individuals! Orion, is it, I see something in you that you don't see in yourself. That kind of nobility only comes from a Prime, and therefore, I deem you one."

Orion stuttered. "But-but the Power of the Primes can only be granted by the Matrix of Leadership!"

"The _Power,_ but the _nobility_ of a Prime can only be granted by one individual who can make a difference in the world. Young Orion Pax, I sense that nobility in you, and I believe that you do, too, you just do not realize it."

"And-me?" I asked, still confused of how he came up with that name.

"You have heard the story of Solus and Megatronus, have you not? They were two lovers, but it did not end well for them because they did not have the love that I sense within you two."

"Us?" I asked, gazing out of the corner of my optic at Orion. "But we've barely known each other!"

"Yet you stay by each other, you like being around the other, and you trust each other."

"What does that have to do with my name being changed?"

"You have the nobility of a Prime as well, but only Orion can become one, for he carries a part of the Matrix within him that needs to be reunited with the real thing. Thus, you still have the Power of a Prime, but not like Orion."

"Hence the name Elita One."

"That is correct."

"But, where do we find the Matrix?" I asked.

The mech stood for a moment in thought before replying, "I have no idea."

Orion and I gazed in shock at him. We came all this way, only for our friends to become victims of Megatron's wrath and Cybertron to fall at the servos of the Decepticons.

He seemed to read my mind. "But you do."

Orion and I both looked expectantly at the other, and the mech laughed. "Trust me, you should know. I knew at some point, but sadly, Primus deemed it that only the next Prime know. And that Prime is you, Optimus Prime."

"So, you're a Prime?" Orion—Optimus asked.

"You don't recognize me?" the mech asked.

I examined him for a few moments before exclaiming, "Alpha Trion?"

"Indeed, but my time as a Prime has come to an end. It is now up to you two to find the Matrix and stop Megatron! Optimus, I realize that, as hard as it may seem, your brother must be stopped before he destroys Cybertron! Elita, after the loss of your sister, I understand the desire to destroy comes with grief, but Cybertron will be poisoned unless Megatron's scheming is put to an end!"

"That is not my brother," Optimus muttered.

"Now, go! You don't have much time before Megatron finds it! The bond Optimus and Megatron share as brothers will allow him to see the location of the Matrix once you figure it out, so you must act quickly!"

I glanced nervously at Optimus, and he glanced back down at me.

"We have to do this," he whispered.

"I know," I replied nervously. "For Cybertron, and for all who wish for peace."

"For Cybertron," Optimus agreed.

"For Cybertron!" everyone, including Goldenwing and her sons, cheered.

For Cybertron.

~Ariel

 **This story is coming to an end, and it seems so soon! The thing about it is that even if I continue it, it will be the same story that everyone has heard after the Autobots and Decepticons leave Cybertron! However, I will try to include at least the part with Bumblebee losing his voicebox (since that happened in Prime).**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	11. Chapter 11

**By the way, on the last chapter, I am aware that the High Council isn't actually like that. I just thought it would be funny!**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 11

I left the building with Orion—Optimus. It's strange calling him 'Optimus', but I suppose I should get used to that. After all, he would have to get used to calling me 'Elita One.'

I wondered what Arcee would think—and my parents! Oh, my poor, poor parents! They're probably worried sick and will be devastated when they hear that Chromia is offline! I still haven't been taking it too well and felt ready to lash out at anyone on our journey to—we have no idea!

That was when I realized that we didn't even know where we were going! I was growing weary, and we were just passing by my neighborhood. I knew I needed to see my parents and explain everything before they went mad with worry!

I stopped and transformed, and Optimus followed my lead, but he stopped me before I could enter. "Optimus, I need to tell my parents what has happened!" I exclaimed, trying to pull away from his strong grip.

"I understand, but there could be Decepticon spies in there that would report back to Megatron if we weren't focusing on the task at hand!"

"Please," I pleaded, more with my optics than my voice. Optimus heaved his shoulders and sighed, letting my servo slowly drift out of his. "I'll be quick," I promised, jogging into my neighborhood.

"I'm coming with," Optimus declared, following close behind. I managed a short smile and looked down the path down my neighborhood—or what was left of it.

Gasping at the destruction, I ran through the littered and deserted streets, Optimus keeping in pace with me. I dodged junk and shredded bits of homes and made my way to the back of the neighborhood. I ran so fast that Optimus took longer to catch up with me.

He looked at my wide optics and then back up, his optics going wide as well. My house—it was barely standing, and almost the whole second floor had been ripped off! My things and my sisters' things were strewn across the front lawn, since our bedrooms were near the front of the house. I ran up to the door and pulled it open, only for it to fall right off its hinges! I threw it to the side and gazed around at what used to be the first level.

The furniture was covered in holes that were obviously made from flying bullets, and many of it was tipped over like a giant shield. The old television screen was barely hanging onto the wall, and a huge crack ran through the wall behind it."Mom? Dad?" I cried out, tripping over debris and pieces of the ceiling.

"Elita, it's unstable!" Optimus shouted, pulling me back just as part of the ceiling came crashing down where I had been standing.

"Thank you," I breathed, slowing freeing myself from Optimus' grasp. I slowly made my way into the kitchen, which had been raided and thrown about, and I shrieked as I saw a steady stream of energon drip down the counter. Optimus ran up to it, carefully examining it all over. He followed the stream to a servo sticking out from the ground, a dead corpse lying beside it.

I covered my mouth with my servo and stepped back before I could scream again, following the trail of energon again with my optics. "A battle," Optimus muttered.

I examined the corpse closer and recognized it as a Decepticon trooper, its red mask faded and armor cracked. "My parents must have put up a fight," I breathed, examining the clutter for more evidence.

I heard a creaking sound coming from the top level and raced towards the stairs, lightly stepping on them and making my way to what was left of the second floor. Optimus had a harder time getting up the steps, his heavy pede bursting through the now-unstable stairs and getting stuck. I chuckled and helped pull him up, and we spread out along the second floor.

I immediately ran to where my sisters' and my room had been, examining the clutter on the floor. Some of our stuff had managed to stay up top, and I slowly bent down and picked up a small datapad. It stored my sisters' and my favorite memories, and we each used it to record precious moments. The screen was partly cracked, but when I pressed the on-button, it flickered to life, each recording of memories the same way we had left it. I hugged it close to my spark chamber and stored it away in a small container on my armor's belt.

I heard the same creaking sound from before and turned around, darting all around the rest of the bedroom. I spotted the windowsill, barely hanging on to what was left of the wall, creaking away as the shutters shivered against the slight breeze. I breathed a sigh of relief and slowly left the room, making my way down the room to the skeletal remains of my parents' bedroom, where Optimus had been exploring. He was just leaving.

"Did you find anything?" I quickly asked, glancing down at his servos. He quickly hid them underneath his armor, and when I tried to slip past him, he blocked my path. "Optimus, let me through," I said sternly, but he didn't budge.

"I didn't find anything. There's nothing there," he said quickly, leading me down to the steps.

I had learned from the start (and from Bumblebee) that he was a terrible liar, so I pushed past him, and when I tried to enter the remains of the bedroom, he roughly grabbed my servo and pulled me back. It was then that I noticed hints of energon on his servos. "Optimus, what are you doing?" I cried, shoving his servo off of me and stomping into the room. He skidded in front of me.

"Optimus, please! What is it?" I tried to peek over him, but he was too tall for me.

"Elita, don't go in there. Just trust me."

"Optimus, just let me look!"

"We need to get going."

"Optimus, it won't even take a nanosecond! Just let me through!"

I tried to push him, but he held against the remains of the doorframe. "I promise you that you won't like it!" he cried, trying to hold himself against the failing doorframe. My spark was trembling, but whatever it was, I needed to know.

"Optimus, whatever it is, just let me throu—" I paused as the doorframe fell, revealing what I knew he was trying to hide. It was like my worst nightmare come true—no, worse.

I gasped and sank to my knees, Optimus guiltily hovering over me. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I didn't want you to know."

I didn't even try to hold them—the tears just came, dribbling down my faceplates and ripping onto the cold, hard floor. For there, lying, dead against the sky, were my parents.

And their optics were black. They stared endlessly up into the sky, their wounds still open and their mouths hanging to the side.

I didn't move. My knees had locked, and my spark felt like it was fading. My dad's helm had been torn out on one side, and some energon still dripped from the wires. My mom had been shot straight through the spark chamber, and singe marks from the bullet were still on her armor.

"No," I whispered. I slowly stood up and trembled, my helm spinning and my legs starting to give out. Optimus scooped me up before I could fall and held me close, burying my helm in his chest so that I couldn't see the terrifying image anymore.

But it was there, still there, forever burning in the back of my mind. Forever haunting me.

The black optics.

The endless stares.

The fresh energon leaking from their bodies—they were gone. Long gone.

My family was being torn apart—first my sister, and now my parents! Oh, Primus, why do you have to do this to me? Why does the world have to be this way? Why do I have to live the rest of my life knowing that my parents and my sister are dead? Why? Why?

"I'm sorry," Optimus repeated, clutching me so tight that I thought my spark was going to burst; it was already pounding so hard! But I didn't pull away—besides Arcee, Bumblebee, and Moonracer, who I didn't even know whether or not were still alive, all I had left was Optimus. I couldn't lose anyone or anything else—not now, and hopefully not ever.

"Let's just go," I whispered, and Optimus nodded and let me go. I leaped from the second floor and transformed, Optimus driving close behind.

I was trying to erase myself from my thoughts and feelings, knowing that the fate of all of Cybertron rested in our servos. I felt myself starting to lose control and swerved to the side of the cluttered road, coming to a halt and transforming right before I drove into a ditch.

Optimus knelt beside me and helped me up. "Are you alright?" he quickly asked as he tried to help me stabilize myself, but I simply fell over again.

"My helm is spinning," I groaned, collapsing on my knees.

"You can't drive on like this," Optimus replied, holding my servo so that I couldn't fall.

"Then, go on without me! Every moment we wait is another moment that our friends cannot spare, and once Megatron's finished them, he'll destroy all of Cybertron!" I exclaimed, resting a servo against my pounding helm.

"You are still shocked from the events, and I understand, but I can't leave you here! You'd be in danger!" Optimus exclaimed.

"The rest of Cybertron needs you! I'll get better and join you later, but for now, go on without me. You said yourself that you experienced dreams about it, so you'll be fine on your own!"

"About that—I have dreams about it, but in the dreams, I don't actually know _where_ I am. Only what happens where I am."

I sighed. "Oh."

We sat in silence until Optimus declared, "I'm taking you with me."

"I'll just slow you down!"

"I can't leave you here, and no matter how much you protest, I'm not leaving you!" Optimus transformed before I could make another claim and opened up the trunk of his large, cargo vessel.

"Get in!" he commanded.

"But—" I didn't have another protest to make, so I sighed and dizzily climbed in, landing with a 'thud' in his large trunk. It was clear of cargo, for now, and hovered in the air.

I held onto the sides as he zoomed out of the neighborhood. I lied down and rested my helm, watching from the small side-windows as he zoomed by.

Primus, help me! I've already lost family—I can't lose Cybertron, not now.

Not ever.

~Elita

 **I promise that there will be more chapters besides the one where they search for the Matrix of Leadership! I have a few ideas in mind…**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Just a heads-up: don't expect new chapters on Tuesdays, since I am very busy those days and don't usually have time to publish new chapters.**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 12

We drove on for miles, and I fell into recharge as I sensed the time dragging by.

My dream was strange—there was a battlefield, and smoke filled the area. I was dodging flying bullets while Moonracer, Bumblebee, and other students that I recognized from my school were—battling?

Moonracer tackled one student with bright, red armor and fiery orange-red optics. He engaged a circular saw and swung it at Moonracer, who ducked to the side and shot at the mech. He twisted to the side, avoiding the oncoming bullets. Moonracer dove for him again, but not until a gleaming, silver sword pierced her in the side. She choked and staggered backwards.

"No!" I shrieked, dashing over to my friend. But it was too late—her optics had dimmed, and fresh energon spilled from her side.

I staggered back in shock, grasping myself. "No, no, no! Primus, why?" I wailed, crashing down on my knees and sobbing hysterically into my servos.

Continuing to choke on my sobs, I sat up and spotted Optimus—battling ferociously and with a somewhat-strange symbol on his shoulder. His optics and his ever-serious gaze was the same, but he had a cannon extended from one servo and a blade extended from the other. His helm whipped towards me, but he made no notice of me. Instead, he ran—right through me—and leaped towards the mech with the same sword that had pierced Moonracer.

I gave a short gasp as I recognized the mech as Megatron—the same sly grin and all. His armor was cut deep with open gashes and wounds, but he didn't seem to mind. Their swords clashed, each one firing off bullet by bullet, ducking and dodging each other's blows.

Running away from the scene, I spotted Bumblebee, optics narrowed and blasters pointed at a Decepticon trooper, shooting it down. Another climbed on his back, and he shoved it off and punched it in the chest, sending it flying backwards. Before he could shoot at it again, the scene suddenly froze, and I held my breath as the battle scene drifted away, almost like the wind had been carrying it.

Another scene surrounded me, one of a dark fortress. Bumblebee was in this one as well, his servos in chains behind his back. He grunted angrily as a panel behind him swung open.

"I'm not telling you," he grunted with gritted teeth, like he was trying to hold onto something but it was too heavy for him to carry. It was then that I noticed large, open wounds on his shoulders that had obviously not been treated.

"Oh, I know that, young scout, but if you don't tell me the information, then I will have to silence you—forever." I clamped a servo over my mouth as Megatron emerged, two troopers and Soundwave close behind. I wanted to stop this, to stop it all, but I knew that I couldn't, for these were just figments of my imagination, but the whole thing seemed so real that I was mesmerized at how my brain could create such a scene!

Megatron suddenly whipped Bumblebee around, sticking his helm in the young scout's faceplates. "You have one last chance, and if you choose to give away the location, then we might let you live. If not—well, I guess you know what's coming."

"No!" I shouted, even though I knew they couldn't hear me.

Bumblebee glanced to the side, as if thinking and preparing to say the answer. Megatron anxiously leaned it, not wanting to miss the words that would come from Bumblebee. Bumblebee turned his helm towards the menacing mech, but he simply replied, "Never."

Megatron unleashed a howl of rage and snatched Bumblebee by the throat, grasping him tightly, but Bumblebee refused to struggle. "I have given you one last chance, and now, you are of no use to me!" he shouted. So sudden and swiftly, he dove his talon-pointed servos into Bumblebee's neck, ripping out his vocal cords.

I fell to the ground and nearly choked upon seeing such a gory method, but I forced my helm to look up. The scene had vanished, though, and suddenly, I was lying awake in Optimus' trunk, spark pounding from the dreams. The back of the trunk hissed open, and I practically rolled out the back and lied still on the ground.

Optimus transformed and raced over to me. "Elita! What happened?" Optimus exclaimed, assisting me in standing and helping me to balance. I was still shivering from the dreams.

"I had these dreams—" I breathed, and Optimus continued staring at me, willing me to go on. "And—and, there was a battlefield, and a dungeon, and Moonracer, Bumblebee-everyone!" I stammered, lip vibrating from my shaking.

Optimus pulled me into his spark and held me close as I stared into the distance. "Any idea where the Matrix could be?" he whispered, releasing me and allowing me to gain my own strength after a few moments.

"No," I whispered back, rubbing my arms and shaking away the trembling feeling.

"I have one idea, but I—" Optimus was interrupted as an explosion tore through the soil, barely missing us, and a familiar seeker soared out of the opening.

"Time's up! Now all of Cybertron is going to pay!" Starscream cackled, transforming and using his engines to stay floating in the air.

"Time?! But he never said—" I started, but Starscream cut me off.

"Even without the Matrix, Cybertron will fall at the hands of the Decepticons!" Starscream let out another menacing laugh and transformed, taking flight and dropping a missile into a nearby city.

"No!" Optimus and I shouted in unison, racing towards the city.

Flames were everywhere when we got there, and another explosion erupted from the ground some distance away, more Decepticons pouring out of it. "We have to do something!" I shouted at Optimus, whipping around frantically as families caught in the explosion raced to get out of the city.

More Decepticons came pouring in from the sky, surrounding the city and attacking the citizens! A young sparkling was caught beneath the rubble, and I leaped onto a Decepticon trooper before it could fire on the small sparkling. I quickly helped it out, but another set of missiles rained from the sky and caught it and others in their explosions.

"We have to the find the Matrix!" I cried out, chasing after Optimus as he ran out of the city. "Where are we going?" I shouted as Optimus transformed and raced past the city, me not far behind.

"I have an idea where the Matrix might be!" he called back to me, coming to a halt and transforming back.

I stared ahead at the very heart of Cybertron, the core of our planet, which Solus Prime had created when she was killed by Megatronus.

"It's in there?" I breathed, peering over the edge and down into what looked like an endless abyss.

"Megatron would not dare think to look there," Optimus reassured me.

"How do we even get down there?" I retorted, and Optimus' faceplates turned into a frown.

"In my dreams, Primus has simply allowed us passage and carried us there himself," Optimus replied.

"Are you sure it's in there?"

"Positive."

I sighed. "Attacks have already begun, and our planet will be war-torn without the Matrix! How are we supposed to survive without it?"

"We'll fight for it. Our cause shall be known as the Autobots, and any who wish to fight for peace will join the Autobots. We will grow stronger with each passing hour, and we will fight until the very heart of this destruction is destroyed."

Optimus' helm turned down sadly, and I softly replied, "Your brother?"

Optimus heaved a sigh. "Yes. And while it pains me to say it, I am afraid that I have no choice but to proceed with this plan. My brother must be destroyed, and while it pains me to do so, I am afraid that the fate of Cybertron relies on my brother's destruction."

~Elita

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry that it took me a little while to get this chapter up! I will try my best to make updates faster! (Spring break starts next week for me, so I might be able to get more chapters up then).**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 13

"So, where to?" I asked Optimus as we slowly left the Well.

"To recruit the others," he replied slowly, creeping along the roads to Kaon.

"Who else could we recruit?"

"We could start with the others that were under Megatron's wrath."

My spark sank. "Are they even still alive?"

He sighed. "If they are, they probably came back to Megatron's fortress in order to wait for us, in hopes we would return for them."

We approached the destructed city of Kaon, ashes rolling down the streets and the bare structures of once-burning buildings struggling to stand. Optimus stepped towards the fortress, and I felt a shiver creep up my back and stopped in my tracks, staring mindlessly at the black dust coating what was left of the exterior.

I felt my knees go limp and almost fell forwards. "Elita?" Optimus warily approached me, ready to catch me if I felt the need to faint. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not," I replied honestly, plopping down onto my knees and continuing to stare mindlessly ahead. I gazed up at him. "I just don't want to go in there and find the limp body of my sister lying forever-still. My parents' lifeless gazes still haunt my vision."

"Then, I'll go," he said."If we don't find the others here, then we'll leave. You can scout the outside."

I nodded my helm in understanding and shakily sat up, grasping myself as if squeezing myself hard enough could drain my forever-haunted memories. As Optimus left, I let out a few shaky breaths. Any moment alone could mean life or death.

I still grasped one arm as I lifted up a metal panel, then another, then another, although I wasn't sure what I was searching for. My optics caught sight of a blue figure approaching in the distance, and I took a few steps back, engaging my servos into fists in case I had to fight.

The blue figure came closer and closer, and my spark started thrumming with joy. "Arcee!" I shouted, leaping from the rubble and running to the approaching figure, so small, so delicate, yet so warming to the spark.

"Ariel!" she cried, leaping into the air and almost tackling me.

We hugged and scolded one another for leaving each other and then hugged again. Sisterly love was complicated.

"It's Elita One now," I corrected her.

"Elita One? But, how?"

I chuckled slightly. "Let's just say that Primus finds me—more than meets the eye."

Arcee gasped. "You're a Prime?"

"Not quite, but Optimus is close."

"Optimus?" A familiar blue-and-red cargo ship hovered out of the fortress and transformed, gazing wide-eyed at Arcee.

"Arcee? Where are the others?" he asked frantically.

"O-Orion?" she stammered.

"His name is Optimus now," I explained, and she narrowed her optics as I came closer to him and grasped his servo.

Arcee gasped. "No way! Are you two—"

"Dating? No. But we're close." I interrupted.

"I-I—" Arcee stammered. Out of nowhere, she let out a battle cry and charged, knocking her helm into Optimus' chest and sending them both flying backwards.

"Arcee, stop it!" I screeched, half serious and half dying-of-laughter!

Arcee strangled with Optimus until she met him straight in the optics. "If you're gonna be with _my_ sister, then you gotta know a few things! First of all, she's always right; second, if you break her spark, I will personally _rip out your spark and stuff it back in your chest so that I can rip it out again and shove it down your throat!_ "

"Okay, Arcee! Point made!" I exclaimed, pulling her off of Optimus and helping him up.

"I'm sorry! She's—overprotective sometimes."

Optimus simply smiled."I understand. You two only have each other left, and it will be your jobs to watch after one another."

"So—" I started, putting my servos on my hips and turning to my younger sister, "Where are the others?"

"We managed to slip away from Megatron, and I came to find you two."

"Then, where are the others?"

"At the battlefront. Bumblebee, Moonracer, Sentinel, and Firestar are armed and ready."

"What battlefront? And ready for what?"

"You haven't heard?"

I glanced warily at Optimus, but he showed no signs of knowing. "H-heard what?"

"The Decepticons have officially declared war upon Cybertron and all those who don't support him! He's gained a number of followers, and we—haven't gained anyone."

"Not good," I breathed, shifting my gaze to the ground and thinking.

"Any ideas on how to get more followers?" Arcee asked, somewhat calmly but with a slight touch of panic on her voice.

"We-we—" I stammered for words and ideas, but nothing came out, so I went silent.

Optimus spoke up. "What the Autobots need is a leader."

"Autobots?" Arcee asked confusedly.

"We are fighting for peace and justice, so I think that 'Autobots' would best deem our group."

"Autobots, then. But how do we distinguish ourselves from the Decepticons?"

Optimus thought once again for a few more moments. "I have an idea, but we need the others."

Arcee nodded her helm. "Right away, then—leader."

~Elita

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 14

Optimus shuffled uncomfortably as we followed Arcee. I could tell that the designation of 'leader' disturbed him. He was very quiet, and I could tell that he had been somewhat of an outcast during his school years, although they have been cut short since the attacks.

All was silent except for Arcee's and my light pede-steps and Optimus' loud, heavy footsteps. Arcee led us to what definitely looked like a battlefield, and I felt my spark drop as a bullet whizzed past me, barely missing Arcee as she stepped out of the way. More bullets just like it flew at us, and Arcee tugged me down behind a thick pile of junk, Optimus following.

"What's going on?" I shouted as the gunshots only got louder. I peered over the edge and ducked just as a bullet flew past where my helm had been not a nanosecond ago.

"Who all is out there?" Optimus asked, struggling to stay down because of his tall form.

"Everyone who was at the fortress before!" Arcee replied. I sighed with relief, even for Sentinel—they had all escaped.

I watched in amazement as Arcee's servo shifted to—a blaster? She sat up and fired it, launching back as a crowd of bullets aimed themselves for her. "How did you do that?" I breathed as she crouched down next to us.

"Upgrades. We had to raid what we could just to survive. I didn't want to go back to our neighborhood, though. I was too afraid." Arcee shut her optics and glanced down sadly, and I placed a comforting servo on my little sister's shoulder.

"They're gone," I muttered softly, and she opened back up her optics and nodded her helm.

"That's what I figured," she replied, her voice choked from trying to hold back tears. She shook her helm and resumed her battle stance, firing a few more bullets as she sat up on her knees, allowing her to duck back if she needed to. I pulled out the datapad and showed it to her when she ducked back down, and she let out a little sob. "You found it," she whispered, but she quickly turned back towards the battlefield as I stored it away again.

I glanced through a small opening in the junk and spotted Decepticons—about a dozen of them—all troopers. Their battle stances were weak, and I spotted Moonracer as she ran at them and knocked two of them down, firing bullets at their chests and leaping back to join the others. Blasters were sticking out just above Bumblebee's servos, and he fired unmercifully upon the Decepticon troopers. Firestar had blasters similar to Bumblebee's, and Sentinel had a sword and a shield, protecting his teammates from oncoming bullets.

"We need to get out of here!" Optimus urged, and Arcee quickly nodded her helm and leaped over the barrier, gracefully landing beside Bumblebee as the troopers advanced. They leaned back-to-back, each one protecting the other as they fired at the oncoming Decepticons. I admired their teamwork and was even more impressed when Bumblebee held out his servo and Arcee stepped one pede on it, propelling off of the ground and diving onto a Decepticon, firing a fatal hole into his faceplates.

She leaped off and dove at another while Moonracer ran towards Sentinel and leaped off his shield to ram her helm into a Decepticon, fighting off a few that came right at her. She shrieked as the remaining two pinned her down and another came at her, loading up its cannon and preparing to fire. Sentinel dove in after it and knocked the troopers unconscious, helping Moonracer up and destroying the remaining troopers.

Optimus and I sat up and raced to the battlefield, where the dozen troopers lied dead on the ground. Bumblebee was the first to spot us.

"Orion! Ariel!" he shouted, gesturing to the others and running over to greet us.

I hugged my old friend and Moonracer and greeted Firestar and Sentinel as well. Optimus did the same, just without the hugging.

When we had all stepped back, I said, "Actually, it's Optimus and Elita One now."

Arcee strutted in front of them. "Haven't you heard? They're officially a couple now, and Optimus has officially been named a Prime by the High Council!"

The others stared at us in shock, and I quickly said, "Not official, but close."

"What about the Prime thing?" Sentinel asked, and I stepped back with Optimus, afraid of him acting rash out of jealousy, but he didn't move, so I prayed that he had learned to accept that.

"It—also isn't official," Optimus answered for me.

I sighed. "But that doesn't matter now—what matters is that we have to beat the Decepticons before they destroy the whole planet!"

"But like I said, we haven't gained any followers! All there is to stand against their countless armies is us, and we'll be scrapped on sight!" Arcee cried.

I stood, crossing my servos over my chest, and thought. Something struck across my mind. "What about Ratchet?"

"You mean that old grump who lived across the street? Whenever we went to the medical center for a yearly check-over, he was always frowning," Arcee sighed, crossing her servos over her chest in a similar way to mine.

"He's a grump, yes, but he's not evil," I reasoned. "And besides, the Autobots need a medic."

"Autobots?" the others mumbled, whispering among each other.

"Uh, I'll explain on the way there," I replied, transforming and hoping that the others would follow.

Optimus transformed, and the others followed his lead. If I was in bot-mode, I would have frowned in disappointment, but I let him take that lead. He had the power of a leader, I could sense it within him, and bots listened to him, so I allowed him ahead.

"Where exactly are we going?" Sentinel asked from behind us, a basic truck alt.

"Does A-I mean, Elita know?" Bumblebee asked from his sports car alt, remembering to call me Elita now.

"No, I don't, but—" I stopped and suddenly swerved as Optimus came to a halt. He transformed, and the rest of us did the same.

A band of what looked like stragglers, perhaps survivors from an attack, suddenly ran out of nowhere! They were all mechs except for a single, green femme.

"Who are you?" a grumpy voice demanded, and I stepped out from behind Optimus and spotted an orange and white mech—an old one, at that.

"Ratchet?" I asked in astonishment, and he took a step back.

"Ariel? Arcee? But—your home! It was invaded and everything!"

"We know, but we survived." I sighed. "We were taken by the Decepticons, the group that attacked our neighborhood in the first place. And it's Elita, by the way—"

"Oh, your parents! I am so sorry," Ratchet interrupted, but then cocked his helm in confusion. "Elita?"

"Elita One, yes, long story, but we need your help! Our goal is to create a group to fight against the Decepticons known as the Autobots, and we won't be enough to hold them back." I gestured towards our small group.

"Yes, yes, I understand. I have been searching for survivors ever since the destruction of our neighborhood. I unfortunately haven't found many—that is, until we came across your group," Ratchet explained.

I gestured to each of my friends (and Sentinel). "This is Arcee, which you already know, Bumblebee, Moonracer, Firestar, Sentinel, and Optimus."

Ratchet nodded his helm respectfully to our group and introduced his. "This is Greenlight, Jazz, Prowl, Wheeljack, and Bulkhead."

Optimus stepped up. "I believe that I have a way to classify us as the peace-keeping Autobots." He held up a single template with a face-like figure on it.

Ratchet nodded his helm. "I have some tools I can use to get those on us," he reasoned.

So, we spent the rest of that night with Ratchet and the other survivors, chatting while Ratchet did our Autobot insignias. It's a miracle that we had survived this far, and I spent the rest of that night reading the others entries in my sisters' and my datapad, laughing at the goofy stories and memories we had recorded.

One was about the time when we had gotten lost from a tour group. I spent the night camped out with my sisters until our parents found us in the morning. It was kind of like where we were now, but we weren't hiding for our lives.

I f only real life could be like that.

~Elita

 **By the way, all of the alt modes are Cybertronian-based, but I didn't say that in-text, since they haven't actually left Cybertron.**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 15

Ratchet worked his magic, and soon we all had the Autobot symbol engraved on our shoulders. Ratchet told us that since he has learned how to apply them, he can quickly add new recruits. In addition to the symbols, a tracking chip is placed in our Autobot insignias so that we can tell when a life signal is an Autobot or a Decepticon.

When he was finished, we all sat around, looking expectantly at one another for what to do next. I finally settled on asking Optimus, who seems to have gained the trust of the others ever so quickly. It is what makes him the best choice for our leader.

"So, what happens now?" I asked.

Optimus stayed in thought for a little while before replying, "We fight. Even if it is to the death, we will fight back against the Decepticons until they can be destroyed, once and for all."

"But we don't have any weapons!" Greenlight exclaimed.

"We can use our fists," Bulkhead, a huge, green mech commented, fist-bumping Wheeljack, a white mech who seems to have known Bulkhead for a long time.

Greenlight scoffed, holding up her tiny servo. "How do you expect me to punch someone with _this_?"

Wheeljack and Bulkhead turned their helms around to meet Greenlight's annoyed optics. "Uh—uh—" Bulkhead stuttered. Greenlight sharply turned her helm to Wheeljack, who shrugged his shoulders and looked down to escape her ice glare.

For whatever reason, we all looked at Ratchet, whose optics widened when he noticed everyone staring at him. "I'm a _medic,_ not an _engineer_!" he cried, throwing his servos into the air and grumbling to himself.

Prowl, who had been sitting quietly in a meditating position, peered open his optics. " _I_ have an idea," he piped up, and everyone, even grumpy old Ratchet, turned to Prowl, who stopped meditating when he had caught everyone's attention.

"So, Prowl, do you have, like, a secret weapons vault or something?" Jazz asked excitedly, the red, white, blue, and black mech rubbing his servos together mischievously.

"No," he said slowly, frowning at Jazz.

"Do we get to break in and steal it?" Wheeljack piped up, leaping into the air and landing in a battle-ready pose.

" _No,_ " Prowl replied impatiently.

"Do we get to—" Bulkhead started, but Prowl interrupted him.

"NO! Just shut up and listen!" he demanded. Wheeljack grumbled to himself while Prowl shot him a death glare through his visor.

"Now, I have a plan, but it's sort of risky." Everyone leaned in as Prowl gestured for us to close in, including Ratchet.

"Do we get to blow stuff up?" Wheeljack asked. Greenlight elbowed him and muttered for him to shut up. "I was just askin'…" he said quietly, but she ignored him.

"Okay, I've been discussing this with Bumblebee and Arcee, and they explained the method they used to gain their weapons."

Bumblebee and Arcee leaned in a bit closer and demonstrated how their servos could turn to weapons and blasters, and those who didn't know beamed in fascination. "They gained their weapons by scanning weapons, much like with vehicle modes, although based upon your caste, you were assigned a certain selection of vehicles."

Optimus' gaze drifted to the ground for a few moments, and I could tell that he was thinking about how his low caste, along with his brother's, had started this whole war. "That doesn't matter anymore. You're the leader, and you're going to lead the Autobots into victory," I reassured Optimus. He managed a small smile but remained doubtful.

"But I thought you guys raided places destroyed by the Decepticons! Do you even still have the weapons?" I asked worriedly.

"A few," Bumblebee replied. "But that was all we found." Bumblebee transformed and opened up his trunk, where Arcee grabbed 5 various weapons—3 blasters and 2 swords.

"We've found that the weapons change a bit to suit our personalities and likings when we scan them," Arcee explained, holding up a weapon that somewhat resembled hers.

"But what about bullets?" I asked.

"They generate on their own, although it uses up our energon," Arcee said. "Our energon reserves are already running out. We don't have any spare cubes."

"So, this isn't just a battle for Cybertron, then—it's a battle for fuel, too," I said nervously. Arcee sadly nodded her helm.

"We need to be ready in case of any attacks. Autobots, scan your weapons and prepare to roll out!" Optimus declared. No one argued, and Jazz even complimented Optimus on his choice of using the battle-cry, "Roll out!"

I scanned the same blaster that my sister had scanned, and it came out exactly like Arcee's. Optimus chose the largest blaster with two cannons and the largest sword as well. He quickly mastered turning his servos into weapons and figured out how to change one servo into a blaster and the other into a sword.

Once everyone had scanned their weapons, Bumblebee and Arcee loaded them back up, and we were back to doing absolutely nothing.

"So—where is this battle at?" Wheeljack asked impatiently.

An explosion suddenly tore through the sky, and we turned to the left just in time to witness another city go up in flames. "That's Iacon!" I cried. "Hundreds of Cybertronians live there!" Iacon was truly one of the largest cities in all of Cybertron, and to watch it go up in flames was devastating, knowing that many Cybertronians had lost their lives in the past 30 seconds. They had already blown up my neighborhood—now they were coming back for the whole city.

"Autobots, transform and roll out!"Optimus cried. At once, all of the Autobots, including myself, collapsed and took our vehicle modes, even if they were just cargo vehicles. Ratchet was a medical vehicle, quite handy for when one of us got hurt.

We sped off towards the city, Optimus leading the way. Flames were eating up the city walls, and a giant hole from the explosion made the perfect gateway for us to sneak in.

The first thing we did was check for survivors. I split up with Optimus, feeling that we were drifting apart by the minute. I was honestly so afraid of losing him that I was slightly trembling as I came up next to him!

"Optimus, I—"

"Elita, if you find any survivors, please let the rest of us know via comm—link," he ordered, interrupting me.

I was taken aback by this move and snapped, "You didn't let me finish."

He sighed and stopped to gaze back at me. "Elita, I—I am sorry. It's just that—all this leader business is putting pressure on me. I don't mean to offend you, I—I'm sorry. But know that no matter where this war leads to, I'll always love you—with all my spark." With those words, he carefully lifted up my servos, and I allowed him to.

"Optimus, I don't want us to drift apart. Promise me—even if I offline before you, will you still love me?"

"Elita, I don't want to think about that. I—"

"Promise me!" I begged. His optics softened, and I realized that the thought of me offlining—scared him! His servos were trembling slightly, and I immediately felt guilty for bringing it up. "Look, Optimus, I'm sorry. I'm afraid for you, and I just don't ever want to lose you, and I—"

I was interrupted once again, but this time, not by Optimus' words. He pulled me into him and—kissed me. Our first kiss, and Cybertron was in a war. Primus, a city just blew up, and here we are—kissing. With no one to stop us or protest, we continued in the embrace, and I never wanted to let go of Optimus just then. He seemed too valuable—too great to ever lose. And knowing that he loved me and that no matter what he would hang onto that love made by doubts wash away—my doubts about us and whether or not Optimus loved me. We had come so far—why did I ever think that he didn't love me? Alpha Trion said so himself—we stay by each other, we like being around each other, and we trust each other.

I love Optimus. He loves me. It's meant to be—it just has to be! I see no other way around it. However, nothing can last forever, and just as quickly as it came, it was brought to an end; we pulled away from each other, and now, we had to pretend like it never happened—for the sake of Cybertron and for the sake of war.

"Yes, well—" I stuttered.

"Yes, of course, um, we should get back to searching for survivors," Optimus muttered.

I smiled at him, and he smiled up at me before we parted and began our search for anyone who could have survived the explosion. I readied my blaster in case any Decepticons came to pick a fight.

As I was passing down a narrow alley, I heard faint whispers—sobs, perhaps.

"Mommy, Mommy…" the sobs emitted. I felt my spark sink—a sparkling had just lost his mother. I carefully followed the sobs to a crevice buried deep in the walls of the alley.

"Mommy…" it whispered again. Ever so slowly, I peered in, and I was immediately met with fading blue optics, their shape and color reading sadness. Its face perked up when it caught sight of me. "Mommy?" it asked, slowly crawling towards me.

"No, it's not Mommy. I'm here to help you," I whispered softly, lowering my blaster and turning it back into a servo. I carefully crawled into the little opening and lifted up the child, who whimpered frightfully in my arms. The little child immediately started wailing.

"No, no, no, don't cry!" I pleaded softly, bouncing it up and down. "Don't cry," I said again, pressing it into my chest and hoping it would muffle the cries. I gasped as I heard jet engines up ahead and spotted a whole fleet of troopers flying up ahead and patrolling the area. I dove into the crevice and stayed tucked in to the area, continuing to hold the sparkling close.

When they had passed us and left the city, too non-observant to search for survivors, I carefully stepped out, looking around for the mother. Carefully kneeling down on one knee and setting the sparkling on the other, I asked softly, "Where is your mother? Do you know what happened to her?"

The little sparkling's gaze drifted to the ground and then back up at me. "Mommy said stay there," it said, pointing a little finger at the opening it had been hiding in.

"Oh," I said, already guessing half the story—the mother knew what was going on and was trying to protect her sparkling. "Well, where did she go?"

"She—she went that way," the sparkling said, pointing the same finger towards the exit of the alleyway. "But I heard boom, and I hid!" the sparkling cried, throwing its small, neon blue arms in the air.

"Oh," I said again, very softly and somewhat sadly. Right where the sparkling had pointed, I could see the faint outline of indigo armor, most definitely a femme's. My spark dropped, knowing that my suspicions were correct.

"What happened to Mommy?" it asked curiously. I sighed, lifting the sparkling back up and searching for Optimus. He was next to Ratchet, who was tending a wounded survivor.

"Elita!" he exclaimed when he saw me. "We found a survivor—this is High Tide," he introduced.

"Thank goodness you found him before the Decepticons. I saw a whole fleet of troopers flying up ahead and hid," I exclaimed, turning the sparkling away from the injured survivor.

"We know. Thank goodness the troopers aren't very observant and didn't find any survivors," Optimus said. His optics suddenly landed on the tiny sparkling. "What happened?" he asked.

Moonracer was nearby, so I asked her to hold the sparkling while I explained everything to Optimus. "The sparkling must have lost its mother. It said that its mother told it to hide, and she left. Apparently there was a 'boom', and we all know what happened next."

Optimus frowned sadly. "I don't know how we can take care of it."

"Me either. It's too young to survive on its own. I'm not sure we can take care of it," I whispered. We both turned to see Moonracer carefully cradling and soothing the young sparkling, who immediately fell asleep.

"It's not right leaving it here," I said, and Optimus nodded his helm in agreement. "Perhaps if someone stays back while the others are in battle, we can take care of it."

"We're already outnumbered—one less soldier in battle could cost us Cybertron."

I sighed. "I know. I just don't know what we're going to do."

"We'll have to take care of it—at least until it can care for itself. It is not a newborn, so it is not helpless."

I glanced back at Moonracer again, who was approaching us. "So, what are we going to do?" she asked.

"Take care of it. We can't just leave it here," Optimus ordered.

"Of course," Moonracer said, sitting near Ratchet and cradling the young sparkling. Ratchet had just patched up High Tide; thank goodness his wounds weren't fatal. He offered to join our group against the Decepticons upon seeing our symbols, and he scanned weapons and had the Autobot symbol placed on his arm.

Sentinel and Bumblebee came back just as High Tide had managed to stand, somewhat wobbly on his left leg, which had a large scar from the ankle almost all the way up his leg. They had two limping Cybertronians with them, one scarlet and one yellow. They appeared to be twins, and neither of them had sustained too much damage. They both sat down and allowed Ratchet to examine them.

At the sight of the red mech, Moonracer handed the sparkling to a surprised High Tide and raced over. "Sideswipe!" she cried, embracing the mech and causing him to tip backwards. The yellow one laughed, and Sideswipe slapped him.

"Shut up!" Sidewsipe called, struggling to stand.

"Moonracer, leave the patients be! They have sustained potentially fatal injuries that I need to examine!" Ratchet hissed.

"Come, on, doc, it's just a scratch!" Sideswipe exclaimed, gesturing to a gaping wound that was spilling out energon.

"Just a scratch, puh-lease," Ratchet mumbled, turning back to the yellow one.

"So, do you know this mech?" I asked jokingly, and Moonracer scratched the back of her helm.

"He was that mech from the first day. You remember, don't you?"

My mind drifted back to the scarlet mech that I had written about. I hadn't described much detail about him, but he did look like Sideswipe. "I do remember," I replied.

"Cool!" Moonracer exclaimed blindly, taking the sparkling back from High Tide, who had gotten sick of holding such a tiny Cybertronian.

"Who's your brother?" I asked Sideswipe as he cleaned up his wound and placed a bandage over it, per Ratchet's orders.

"That's Sunny," he replied.

"Don't call me that! It's Sunstreaker!" Sunny—er, Sunstreaker, exclaimed angrily.

"He likes it, he just doesn't want to admit it," Sideswipe whispered to me, and I chuckled and did my best to hide a smile, since Sunstreaker was glaring daggers at Sideswipe.

Once both twins were patched up, Sideswipe piped up, "We'd love to join the Autobots." He gestured to all of our symbols, and Ratchet groaned as he got to work again, although it didn't take long.

"We're not even from here, but the Decepticons destroyed our home," Sunstreaker added.

"And you got caught in the explosion," Moonracer finished.

"You bet! But Sunny here saw 'em coming, so we gathered up as many folks as we could and hid," Sideswipe exclaimed, and Sunstreaker growled at him.

"I told you, don't call me—"

"Anyway," I interrupted, "What happened to the other survivors that you rounded up?"

Sideswipe rubbed the back of his helm, ashamed, and replied, "They sort of ran. They panicked when they saw the bombs coming and—yeah. They ran."

"All of them?"

"All of them," Sideswipe confirmed.

I sighed. "So, no more survivors here?"

"Wouldn't think so—although this one purple-and-blue-colored femme got her sparkling to safety, although she—"

"Didn't make it," I finished. "I know. We have her sparkling." I gestured to Moonracer continuing to bounce the little sparkling and keep it asleep.

Sideswipe nodded his helm sadly and turned back to his brother, whose Autobot symbol was now finished as well.

"We need to get going and protect any other cities that have not yet been, well, blown-up," I explained.

Optimus nodded his helm. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, take your pick of weapons." Bumblebee and Arcee set them out for the fascinated twins to see. "The rest of you, split up and protect the cities! Gain as many followers as you can and get out of the cities!" Ratchet handed each of us an Autobot symbol template and quickly explained how to apply them. "Autobots, transform and roll out!" The other Autobots that had been scattered across the city raced to follow Optimus' orders.

"Nice catchphrase—you must be the leader," Sideswipe complimented.

Optimus smiled. "Indeed."

~Elita

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Please leave a review or a suggestion!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 16

I smiled, pleased that Optimus was coming to accept being the team leader. Still, who knows how many other sparklings will be orphaned by the time this war is over? I don't even want to think about the numbers.

We are all split up now, doing our best to evacuate the cities and gain as many recruits as possible. I have joined Greenlight, Firestar, Moonracer, Arcee, and the sparkling in a journey to Kalis. Moonracer won't let go of the little thing, and it constantly asks where we're going!

"So, are you going to name it or what?" Firestar asked as the sparkling rode inside Moonracer's alt mode.

"Well, maybe we should ask it its name," Greenlight suggested.

"Okay." Moonracer asked, in a childish voice, what the little sparkling's name was, but it didn't reply, only stared blindly into the distance.

"So, are we naming it, then?" Firestar asked, somewhat anxiously.

"I guess. How about—"

"Fiya!" the little sparkling suddenly screeched. "Fiya, fiya!"

"Fiya?" Moonracer asked. "Are you sure you want us to call you—"

"No, Moonracer, he said 'fire'! Look!" Greenlight exclaimed. Sure enough, not far to our right, flames were erupting out of the sky!

"But that's Kaon! They already blew it up!" I called out to the others, witnessing more flames go up. "No one's there!"

We all transformed, Moonracer holding the sparkling close as we neared the smoke and falling ashes. "And that's where you're wrong," she said, pointing to a slim figure within the flames.

The figure was holding a weapon, and it appeared to be a femme, but no one was in Kaon at the time, except—"Hold up," I told the others as they prepared to advance on the figure. My spark started humming, and Arcee stepped up to me, gesturing to her spark to say that it was doing the same.

"It—it can't be—" she stuttered.

Moonracer staying behind, the rest of us tore across the small piece of land separating us and Kaon, flying through the flames and leaping alongside the figure. Decepticons were everywhere, and it was then that I noticed a few troopers hauling energon out of a vault in the ground.

We activated our weapons, and the others turned to advance upon the troopers and a few seekers that were just flying in. I turned towards the figure and nearly fell backwards, I couldn't believe my optics!

Despite the fact that she was covered in soot and ash, there was no way I could mistake her. The same firm gaze yet gentle optics, the way she stood making her look taller than she actually was, her bright blue armor—

"Chromia!" I cried, launching myself at my sister and barely catching myself from falling.

"Ariel?" she gasped, holding me out in front of her and examining me like a concerned mother would, even though I'm the oldest.

"It's Elita-One, actually—"

"I know," she interrupted. "I'm a pretty good hacker. I hacked into the High Council's database and found out—about you and Optimus, I mean."

"Yes, I know—"

"You're going to be sparkmates, oh—"

"Whoa, whoa, let's not go too far!"

"Nonsense—did 'Cee already give him the smackdown?"

I sighed. There was no use arguing with Chromia. I chuckled and replied, "You bet."

"Perfect. Maybe once this whole thing is over, everything will work out just fine."

I sighed at how optimistic Chromia was being. She was expecting this war to be done and over by this time tomorrow, or maybe something like that—I wasn't entirely sure. All I knew was that this war would more than likely stretch on for vorns—we might not even be alive by the time it ends, but at least we will all play our part in society.

I glanced down at Chromia's weapon. "Where'd you find that at?"

"I raided the Decepticon stockpile. They have one hidden underground, although they found me in it and are extracting energon from it." She pointed to the others desperately fighting off the Decepticons—we needed all the fuel we could get.

I paused. "Wait, wait, wait—I forgot to ask the most important question, such as, how are you alive?"

"The bomb was just getting ready to go off when Starscream took you and Optimus—Orion at the time, I guess. I slipped free of the bonds at literally the last moment and slid into another entrance to their underground storage area and waited out the explosion. I spent time searching for you and hacked all I could, taking a few weapons, although I couldn't take much from the stockpile.

"I was raiding the stockpile just a few moments ago when the Decepticons found me there—Starscream, actually."

I scoffed. "That coward?"

"You bet. Turns out, he's the second-in-command for the Decepticons and commands most of the troops! He sent them after me and blew up the city again—although I'm not sure why. Probably just to make a scene."

She gestured to my Autobot symbol. "I saw your resistance group against the Decepticons and decided to seek you out—part of that explosion was me trying to signal for you, although Starscream set off an explosion first."

I quickly took out one of the Autobot symbol templates and applied it how Ratchet had shown us to. "There. And now, if anyone sees your tracking signal, they'll know you're an Autobot."

"Perfect." We suddenly turned towards the others, having been so lost in the moment that we weren't paying much attention to what was around us.

Arcee poked her helm up from the storage space. "In here! We need to get these energon cubes before they send back-up!" she cried.

We quickly joined the other femmes, and Arcee gasped when she spotted Chromia. "Chromia! You escaped!" she cried, not asking any further questions, only hugging her sister and then going back to join the others.

Arcee is still young, and I hate seeing her fighting instead of playing at home—when we still had a home. She was adapting to these changes, though, and I liked to see that. She was growing up to be quite strong, and I could tell that she was very loyal to the Autobot cause. It made me smile to know that my youngest sister had chosen the side fighting for peace—a wise choice, at that.

We formed a chain with the other femmes, and I transformed into my cargo vehicle, and the others loaded in the energon cubes. When we couldn't fit any more, Chromia switched places with me and then Arcee.

We emerged from the storage area, and Firestar bolted back down the cover for it. Greenlight gazed up and called out, "Troopers—maybe 3 dozen."

"Do we stay and fight?" Arcee asked.

"No!" I cried out. "We can't risk losing the energon!"

"Go, go!" Greenlight called out as she transformed, Firestar doing the same. Missiles suddenly whizzed by, just begging to blow us to bits. Moonracer had just been running to us with the sparkling, and she joined our group.

We raced out of the city, all the way to Kalis, just in time to witness it go up in flames as well. "No! Not another city!" I cried, swerving out of the way as large pieces from the buildings caught in the explosion launched themselves at us.

I took another path, one that I was sure led to the others. We would need help rescuing survivors in Kalis and getting these cubes to safety.

We got lucky, for sure enough, Optimus and a few others were just coming our way. I transformed, the energon cubes ending up in my arms, as well as Chromia and Arcee.

"Elita!" Optimus cried.

"Optimus!" I shouted back, racing over to the others. "We found energon—" I gestured to the cubes. "And a survivor," I said, smiling as I acknowledged my sister.

Optimus' optics grew wide, but he shook it off and commanded, "Ratchet, Jazz, get these cubes to a safe place." When they had taken the cubes from us, Optimus turned back towards me and said, "We have found many survivors among the groups, and we have decided it is best to split up the Autobot ranks."

"Split up? But won't that just put us at a disadvantage?"

"No. Elita-One, I would like to deem you second-in-command of the Autobots and the leader of the Femme Autobots." He gestured towards the others femmes that had been with me on our trip to Kalis and then to his left. He acknowledged a purple-and-orange femme that was approaching. "This is Lancer. She will join your group."

I nodded my helm. "Understood."

"We have another team known as the Wreckers who have vowed to take on the toughest and most dangerous missions. They are truly loyal to our cause."

"Optimus, I hate to interrupt, but Kalis was just blown up!" Greenlight cried.

"We know. We saw the explosion. Elita, you and your team will venture to Kalis and any other surrounding cities and gather up survivors. That is the mission I am assigning you to. I will work with the other Autobots to defeat any Decepticons and gather survivors near Iacon, since there are many surrounding cities that have yet to be targeted."

"Understood. Moonracer, I want you to stay behind us while we are engaging the Decepticons in order to protect the sparkling," I ordered.

"Of course."

"Everyone, let's roll out!" I declared. It didn't sound as triumphant as when Optimus did it, but they listened either way.

I wish that this war would be over. I was tired of fighting and watching families being torn apart by the ravages of battles. Still, we could not rest until Megatron and the Decepticons were brought down to a minimum, and Cybertron could be restored!

I was growing impatient—this war was getting worse, and I sensed that soon, it would be time to bring out the Matrix of Leadership, although only Optimus knows when that time is.

~Elita

 **By the way, I will not be able to post any new chapters or updates this weekend (including Friday) because I have to go somewhere and will be gone all weekend.**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! Please leave a comment or suggestion in the reviews section!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	17. Chapter 17

**To answer Blade Foxfairy's question: No, they have not yet found the Matrix of Leadership, but Optimus is positive that it is in the core of Cybertron, although only Primus will tell Optimus when that time is.**

 **I know that this review was posted a few weeks ago, but I never thought to answer to it until now: To Shadowkiller 16, nice job spotting the references to Prime and Animated! I haven't actually classified this story as any specific Transformers series, although in my mind, they look like the Prime characters, since Transformers Prime has always been my favorite! With Wasp, we are just going to infer that he joined the Decepticons, even though it is different in the actual series.**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 17

We ventured to Kalis, and I feared that this would be a lost cause, but I knew that despite our relationship, Optimus was the leader, and the best choice for that position at best, and I was to follow his commands. Still, I feared seeing more dead bodies and more families torn apart, such as with the small sparkling that Moonracer now held so dear.

Kalis was just like all the other cities—in flames, the stench of spilled energon, and the deathly feel of the spirits of those destroyed in the explosion searching for their way to Primus. Still, Optimus' orders were not to be defied, even if that meant seeing things we could not get out of our helms.

Moonracer remained behind, and I could barely watch her as she frightfully stood with the sleeping sparkling through my rearview mirror. We entered Kalis, and the raining ash brought me back to the present—I told myself to not dwell on the past, for surely more sparklings would be orphaned by the time this war was over—if it would ever be over.

We transformed, and I ordered Greenlight, Lancer, and Firestar the other way while I went with Chromia and Arcee to scout out a different sector of Kalis.

Sure enough, many unfortunate Cybertronians caught in the explosion littered the streets. I shivered as I walked past an arcade, where many young Cybertronians had been frozen in place while playing a game, taken ever so suddenly by the explosion. I prayed that Primus sheltered all of their sparks, for so many innocent Cybertronians were going to offline by the time this war was over.

I gestured for Chromia and Arcee to follow me inside the arcade, and we crept along silently, our weapons at ready. I turned a corner to the party booths and found that two parties had been going on before the explosion. I signaled for Arcee and Chromia to check the rest of the arcade while I bent down and checked to see if anyone had taken shelter underneath the booths, although I doubt many of them had seen it coming.

A few of them had, though, and a group of mechs about my age were hovered under the table, shoving each other aside in the tight squeeze.

"Move your servo!"

"Get your fat helm out of my face!"

"This is awkward…"

I cleared my throat, and each of their helms shot up straight, looks of embarrassment clouding their faceplates. "Are you all alright?" I asked, trying to ignore the previous outbursts.

"Y-yeah," one mech stammered, looking back at his pals (at least, I think they're pals—I've never understood mechs before) for help.

"We need to get all of you out of here, before the Decepticons come back."

"Um, yeah, about that—" one started.

I glanced down and nearly stumbled backwards when I realized just how they knew about the explosion, for on their chestplates, a single symbol, somewhat like the Autobot symbol but more evil-looking, stood out.

One raised a servo with a single blaster on it. "Scrap!" I shouted.

He fired it, and I ducked behind another booth and fired back. I couldn't believe it—the Decepticons had sent spies in to determine the next locations to strike! They must have not been able to get out fast enough before the explosion would get them as well and took cover—the Decepticons obviously didn't think this attack through.

"Chromia! Arcee!" I shouted, and they dashed over to me.

"No survivors—not a single one," Chromia sighed.

"And that's where you're wrong," Arcee said, gesturing to the cowering Decepticons. They were obviously too afraid to come out, but they fired at us anyway.

"Get down!" I shouted to Arcee and Chromia, and they leaped over a broken booth and behind a sturdier one, getting much closer than I was.

Still, I had to try, so I aimed at one's spark, shutting one optic to make sure I hit it precise, and fired.

My shot was straight on target, and the Decepticon collapsed with a gaping hole in its chest before it could fire back. I wanted to shout and cheer that I had hit it—I had killed a Decepticon—but I was too shocked and just wanted to focus on the mission ahead.

To our dismay, even more Decepticons came out from behind another booth—they had been so clever—but only one made my spark drop.

Soundwave.

He held no emotions that I could see, but he was every bit as dangerous as Megatron. "No, no, no," I breathed. I used to watch Soundwave fight in the gladiator pits, and he showed no mercy, just killed.

And his visor was faced straight towards me.

I used my instincts and flipped into the air, landing gracefully on top of another booth, just as Sounwave fired his blaster, right where I had been crouching behind another booth. His helm whipped towards me, and while he had no face, I could still tell that he was thinking.

I wasn't going to give up, and I tried to use his distraction to my advantage. Leaping off of the booth, I dove right at Soundwave—only for a piercing pain to erupt through me!

I shook, midair, for a few moments, Soundwave's electric beams piercing through me, until he dropped me to the ground, and I fell—weakened by him. He was slowly, his electric beams raised, approaching the unsuspecting Arcee and Chromia.

"Arcee! Chromia!" I cried. Chromia spun around just in time and used a sword while still firing at another Decepticon to block Soundwave's electric beams. She guarded Arcee while Arcee leaped up onto the next booth and continued firing. She did a flip and landed smack down on a Decepticon, shattering part of his armor as she continued firing.

More Decepticons were filing in, and there were only three of us to hold them back. Chromia was thrown backwards by an impact from a blaster, but I didn't see who had fired it. She was hurt, and a wound was starting to form, leaking fresh energon. Arcee noticed and shouted, "Comm. Ratchet!"

I immediately called for assistance, and not much later, Ratchet was there, but he was with a femme that I didn't recognize. "This is Red Alert," he quickly introduced. I nodded my helm towards her, and she did the same to me. Immediately, Ratchet transformed into an emergency vehicle, and Red Alert, acting as the nurse, unloaded a berth from Ratchet's alt. mode and carefully set Chromia on top of it. She rolled it back into Ratchet's alt. mode and climbed in to help keep Chromia calm.

They rode off, and I ordered Arcee and the others, who were scouting different areas of the city, to follow Ratchet back to Iacon, where the others were holding a temporary base.

Moonracer was at the base, where Bulkhead and Jazz were guarding the small energon reserves and Moonracer was slowly feeding the growing sparkling trickles of energon from a nearly-empty cube.

"What happened?" she asked, upon seeing us back so soon.

I sighed. "We had to retreat. There were Decepticons there."

"Who's to say they didn't follow us back?!" Arcee suddenly cried, whipping her helm around as Decepticon seekers made nosedives for our small base.

"Those aren't the same ones!" I called out. They continued coming down, faster and faster, and I gestured to Greenlight and Firestar to guard the energon with Bulkhead and Jazz while the rest of us guarded Ratchet, Red Alert, Chromia, and Moonracer with the sparkling.

They came at us faster than anticipated, and Arcee and I were still weak from the battle before. One seeker in particular caught my optic. "Starscream," I muttered through gritted teeth.

"You fools! You think you can just raise an army of followers and bring down the Decepticons?! Never! We have more Decepticons than the Autobots can ever dream of!" He cackled evilly, and the seekers dove towards us, transforming as they did so as Starscream remained in the sky.

Poor Moonracer was clutching tightly to the sparkling, fearing for its life and her own. The seekers advanced, and even more Decepticons were closing in, including the ones from Kalis.

"We can't hold them all off!" Arcee called out to me, and I sighed, knowing that she was right.

I turned to Bulkhead and Jazz. "Where is Optimus?" I asked.

"We're coming, Elita!" a familiar voice called out to me, and I spun around just in time to spot Optimus and the others. He had what appeared to be hundreds of others behind him, and they wore an Autobot insignia proudly.

How is it that whenever things look bleak, Optimus shows up? "He's good," Bulkhead said, as if he could read inside my helm.

"Optimus, you got all of these bots out of the surrounding cities?" I asked, stunned.

"Indeed," he replied, transforming and jogging over to me. We embraced each other, and I turned towards a mech about Optimus' height—he appeared very noble and stood tall, ready for any new commands or battle.

"Elita, this is Ultra Magnus. He is going to command the Wreckers and stand as a high-ranking officer in the Autobot cause. However, he will not take over your position as second-in-command."

"Understood."

When Ultra Magnus had left, Optimus quickly told me, "Ultra Magnus graduated from the Elite Guard not long ago. He is very by-the-book and very strict among his soldiers. I find it best to just nod along to any complaints about my leadership he may have."

"I understand," I replied. I glanced around among the followers. "So many are willing to follow us. With all hope, this war will be over soon, and we won't have to use the Matrix."

"I fear it is too late for that," he said, and I sighed. I never wanted it to reach this height. "I have more Autobots positioned near Tyger Pax," Optimus informed me.

We didn't speak for a few moments, and as more Decepticons came in from the surrounding sides, we readied ourselves for battle. Taking our separate paths, we both ran towards the Decepticons, more Autobots and Decepticons filing in by the nanosecond.

The battle was starting to get worse, and I watched in horror as some of the many Autobots were taken down by bombs dropped by seekers. Still, more came, and the battle pressed on further.

As the sky blackened from the gunshots and explosions, the area around me suddenly became more familiar. This was the scene from my dream, and in that very dream—I didn't want to think about it. It was only a dream, and things could turn out differently now.

I slowly came closer to Moonracer, willing to guard her and the sparkling to the death. I fought off a few approaching troopers and tackled a Decepticon with one large, red eye. He shoved me off and prepared to fire a large plasma cannon right at my helm, but Sideswipe knocked it aside before he could shoot and helped me up. "Thanks for the save." I smirked.

"Don't expect them too often. I just haven't gotten a chance to kick much Decepticon aft."

"Watch your language," I warned jokingly, but he just shrugged and shot down a few troopers.

These Decepticons were not giving up, and just as I had feared, a towering, silver figure approached. He walked briskly through the battles, the reflection of flames glinting off his silver armor. I feared just a shard of it could pierce through someone's spark.

"It's Megatron—he's here," I whispered through the comm. to Optimus.

"Understood," he replied back.

I wanted to take a dive for Megatron, but I didn't, instead turning away and advancing upon the one-eyed mech once again. I brought him down and fired at his chest, but his armor was much stronger than the troopers', and it did no damage.

I continued wrestling with him, although my strength was starting to give way. As he knocked me to the ground and prepared to fire his plasma cannon, I kicked him right in the eye and sent him flying backwards, swinging around uncontrollably after being temporarily blinded.

I decided to move on and spotted Moonracer—fighting? She was knocking back Decepticons with one servo, the other holding the sobbing sparkling tightly. She had a blaster engaged in her free servo and managed to destroy quite a few troopers. I told myself to stop worrying, that she could care for herself, until the scarlet red mech with the shiny armor and flaming optics approached. He had the same circular saw engaged, and I suddenly knew what was going to happen next as Megatron pressed on through the battle.

"Moonracer! Get back!" I shouted. But it was too late. Right before my optics, just the same as it had appeared in the dream, Moonracer dodged the saw and sent the red mech flying, but Megatron's sword pierced right through her.

"Moonracer!" I shouted again. In the dream, the sparkling hadn't been there, and as the dust from the scarlet mech flying backwards cleared, it was then that I realized it was suddenly gone now!

I ducked back from a smirking Megatron and approached my barely-alive friend. "Moonracer," I breathed.

The sparkling was not in her arms, and I covered my mouth with my servo, realizing that the sparkling must have been destroyed. "I'm so sorry," I whispered, nuzzling my helm close to my friend's.

"They—they took it," she wheezed. "They took the sparkling right out of my arms. They took off with it." She pointed to the right.

"There's no use trying to get it back now," I said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"P—please don't mourn me," she stammered.

"That's impossible," I replied. "I've known you since we were sparklings."

"It's been an honor serving with you—Elita One." She whispered my name, and it wisped in the air. Her optics faded to black, and ever so slowly, I got up off my knees. There was no way to have a proper burial, even for my dear friend, so I held onto her servo for a few moments and then turned away, coming back into the battle.

I had already lost Moonracer. In the dream, Bumblebee was hurt badly by Megatron. Would he survive this war—would anyone survive this war? I didn't know.

I was going to fight. Cybertron would never be the same, and much of it was already devastated by the war.

This doesn't feel like a journal any more—it is becoming a record of all the deaths so far and all the deaths that are to come.

~Elita

 **I am so sorry to kill Moonracer, but I had already been planning to, so I knew it had to happen eventually! I am planning on doing another fanfic regarding the sparkling and all that happened to it some other time.**

 **By the way, I know that Ultra Magnus is technically the second-in-command of the Autobots, but I wanted it to be Elita One, since she is Optimus Prime's sparkmate later on.**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! Please leave a comment or suggestion in the reviews section!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry to not post a new chapter in a while!**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 18

I could not report Moonracer's death to Bumblebee—he may be in the middle of a fight, and interrupting him could cost his life.

Shortly after I had left my friend, another set of seekers flew in—with bombs. I quickly called Optimus, but he spoke first—he had already spotted the bombs coming.

"Autobots, clear the area!" he commanded, sweeping a servo over the area and transforming. The remaining Autobots transformed and raced to join up with Optimus, filing out before they were unlucky enough to get caught in the bombs. I was about to join them when I caught a red blur out of the corner of my optic. I turned back around—the Autobots were already gone, but I wasn't going to leave until I knew what—or who, perhaps—it was.

A young, red mech who I recognized as a friend of Arcee's from when I had visited her school, although she is only 2 cycles younger than me, had been trapped by the rubble and was moaning for help softly, as to not attract unwanted attention from the Decepticons. However, this prevented Autobots from spotting him as well and coming to his aid.

I glided over to him, kneeling down in front of the red mech. I knew that it would be wrong to leave him out in the open when the Decepticons were preparing to unleash bombs upon the city. I took a deep breath and quickly took in the city—Iacon, my home, Bumblebee's home, and Optimus' home. It _was_ Moonracer's home, but I guess you can't call it your home anymore if you've joined the Well of Allsparks. Just blowing up one neighborhood wasn't enough—now another whole city had to go!

My attention quickly darted back to the red mech. "What's your name?" I asked him.

"Cliffjumper," he mumbled, not even trying to sit up.

"If we get this off of you, can you walk?"

"Barely," he muttered.

Sighing, I sat up and strained to push the large piece of metal off of him, but it was definitely heavy—a piece of a building that had been caught in the fighting. Cliffjumper started pushing up on it with his back, managing to get to his knees. When it was high enough, Cliffjumper leaped out from under it and landed at my feet. His legs had been damaged from a hit, and the building chunk hadn't made it any better.

I carefully helped him to his feet, watching the seekers separate to different parts of Iacon. My spark sank as one positioned himself right above the observatory, a beautiful place that I had always loved to examine the stars in. This is war, though, and much is lost over such a long period of fighting.

"Come, Cliffjumper," I said, wrapping one of his arms around me and one of mine around him. He limped along next to me, and seeing how far we were from the exit and watching the seekers preparing to release the bombs, I realized that we weren't going to make it.

Cliffjumper noticed too and said, "I'm slowing you down. Go on without me."

"No," I replied sternly. I was the second-in-command of the Autobots; it was my job to not only command troops, but to protect them.

Knowing there was no arguing with me, Cliffjumper persisted on with limping, taking longer strides since he couldn't run. We were nearing the exit, but we still weren't fast enough.

I glanced up. The seekers were just about to release the bombs. "Go!" I shouted, letting go of Cliffjumper and practically throwing him to the exit. He made it the rest of the way, staying behind the rubble as he left the city to protect himself from the on-coming bombs.

I sprinted towards the exit and transformed, opening the back of my cargo-holder and allowing Cliffjumper to climb in. I put medal to the pedal, and soon enough, we were out of the city.

The bombs went off behind us, and at least a dozen explosions lit up the sky. I drove even faster to escape the ash clouds. The seekers had fled the city, their jet engines sending out smoke as they scrambled to avoid the explosion as well.

I knew that Cliffjumper must feel guilty, but it was my choice to come rescue him, and he should be relieved, for he wouldn't be lying in the trunk of my cargo vehicle if I hadn't gone back for him.

"We'll find one of the medics," I told him.

Optimus had said that there were more Autobots positioned in Tyger Pax. Was Bumblebee with them? I had not seen him in the battle while in Iacon; I hope that didn't mean that he had succumbed to the same fate as Moonracer, although I doubted that.

My next destination: Tyger Pax, although it's probably going to end the same way all these other battles have: with the city blown-up in the end.

~Elita

 **So sorry for the short chapter! The next one will be longer, I promise! (Hint: The Battle of Tyger Pax. If you want to, you can search up the short story "Bumblebee at Tyger Pax". It is written by Alex Irvine, the author of** **Transformers: Exodus and a few others.** **)**

 **Quick note: "Cycles" has been a term described in different Transformers series for different time periods. In this fanfiction, I consider it an Earth year, meaning that Arcee would be two years younger than Elita. Chromia was born the year before Arcee.**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Now that I have decided to discontinue my last fanfic (it wasn't very good anyway, since I didn't plan it out well) I will have more time to focus on finishing this one!**

 **Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 19

Tyger Pax was erupting in a battle like the explosions in Iacon! After transforming, I clumsily carried Cliffjumper over to Red Alert, who had stayed back from the battle to assist injured Autobots. I set him down while she examined his damaged legs.

Bumblebee was here, thank goodness—I was so afraid to lose him after I had already lost Moonracer! There would be time to talk about what had happened with her later—right now, I needed to help in the battle.

As we progressed through the fighting, I noticed a few of the Autobots closing in towards the Well of Allsparks. Eventually, a light stream of Autobots stood guard around the pit, and I closed in to join them, making my way to Optimus, who stood at the center. It seemed only fitting for the second-in-command to stand alongside the leader while the battle raged on.

"Optimus, why are we guarding the Well?" I asked, positioning myself in a battle-ready stance and preparing to fire if needed.

"Because Megatron has discovered that the Matrix lies within it," he replied, not looking down at me—only keeping his optics locked on his brother who would do anything to have the Matrix for himself.

"How? I thought you said that Megatron would never think to look there!"

He sighed. "I'm afraid that my split spark with my brother revealed the location to him—and now, he is willing to risk everything for its power."

I shook my helm. "We have to get it first."

"And we will."

"Now?"

"No."

I sighed. "This war is drawling on, and the Decepticons are winning! How many more have to be sacrificed before Primus allows you passage?" I almost screamed the last part, and Optimus' brow furrowed.

I softened my glaring gaze and said softly, "I'm sorry. I just lost a dear friend—Moonracer."

Optimus placed a servo on my shoulder. "I know how you feel. We have lost many close friends, as well as family."

"Family…" I whispered. "Family? What about your family? And Bumblebee's—and Moonracer's?"

"Gone. They were destroyed—I sensed my family's demise, and Bumblebee sensed his when the bombs in Iacon went off. He explained to me the aching feeling, and I felt empathetic towards him and you, knowing that the same had happened to us. I predict that the same happened to Moonracer's."

"I didn't feel my family's passing. The bond I share with my sisters is so strong that we did not feel when they passed."

"I'm sorry."

I shut my optics for a moment, and when I opened them again, all was still around us. I whipped my helm back up and was suddenly met with the evil stare of Megatron. "Now that you have all gotten the burdens of losing your families off your shoulders, allow me passage, and I shall let you live."

"Only Primus can do that, _brother_ ," Optimus retorted, engaging his sword and readying it in case of a sword fight.

"Indeed. But the Decepticons may at least control the Well."

"Primus would never allow you passage!" a voice rang out from the crowd of Autobots. Bumblebee stepped forward—he was always so brave!

"I will find a way," Megatron growled.

"Yeah right—even a bad bot like you can't get past Primus! He's watching right now, you know, and conquering galaxies and destroying Cybertron wasn't really what he intended the Matrix to be for. Just in case you didn't know."

Megatron growled. He strided forward and lifted Bumblebee by the neck. Fear crept up my spine—it was just like the vision, except for that vision had been on a ship. Unless…the future was always changing. Had the actions of the Decepticons led his fate to be determined now? If they hadn't chosen to attack Tyger Pax, none of us would even be here!

It was as I feared—although Moonracer's fate had come true on the same circumstances as the vision, Bumblebee's was changing by the moment. Oh, if only he would learn to keep his mouth shut! Before, I had at least hoped that his fate would not be as bad, but watching Megatron squeeze harder—harder—I just had to look away!

I could hear the neck cables snapping, almost feel his undoubtedly throbbing pain in his voice box. But he continued to rant on.

"Ya know, for a big, tough bot, you sure are pretty weak picking on the little ones like me, although you're too scared to pick on the big tough ones like Optimus, huh?"

Megatron growled even louder, and as I glanced back up, Megatron jerked his servo back—taking with it Bumblebee's voice box. He slammed it to the ground, stomping on it once and crushing the delicate instrument. Fresh energon leaked from Bumblebee's wounds, and he choked as he fell forwards, grasping his ripped neck cables.

"Bumblebee!" I called out. Optimus was in too much shock—his pedes were frozen in place, and his optics were wide. His gaze didn't follow his brother as Megatron stalked away, ordering the Decepticons to 'clean that mess up!'

I stood protectively over Bumblebee. "No!" I shouted, engaging my gun.

They turned expectantly towards their leader, who waved them back without a care. They didn't seem to mind, for they figured him lost and to die any moment.

But our medics weren't like that—Ratchet leading them, they all worked together while I held Bumblebee still to patch up his wounds. Optimus and a few others volunteered to donate some of their energon, saving Bumblebee's life, as he had lost so much energon in such a short amount of time!

I eventually left the medics as another held Bumblebee and stalked over to Optimus. Immediately, I dove into his warm embrace, too strong to cry. Optimus' servos shook from fear, although he hadn't shown it when Megatron had been around.

"If _this_ isn't enough, then I hope that Primus is ready to give us the Matrix soon," I whispered, my voice slightly shaking from the shock of watching someone's voice box ripped out.

Suddenly, a faint blue light shone from the core, and a wave of energy hit both of us, carrying us deep into Cybertron, all the way down to the core…

Primus.

~Elita

 **This fanfic is coming to an end, and if it isn't over in the next chapter, it will be in the one after that. This certainly won't be my last fanfic—I have another idea for one and a sequel for that one that I think can be really great!**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! Please leave a comment or suggestion in the reviews section.**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


	20. Chapter 20

**I was originally going to post this yesterday, but I didn't have time, so here this chapter is today!**

 **Here is the very last chapter of this fanfic. I really do hope you enjoy it!**

Chapter 20

No sooner had the blue light appeared than it faded away again, leaving us both in a gray darkness. As our optics adjusted, we could faintly see a path straight ahead, and an even fainter blue light was glowing at the end.

"Do we follow it?" I whispered, unable to see Optimus except for the glowing of his vibrant, blue optics.

He continued to stare ahead, but glanced at me for a moment to reply, "Yes."

Slowly at first but picking up the pace as we neared it, we stood side-by-side, stopping only when we reached our target. The blue-white light poured in through the opening, illuminating our faceplates.

Optimus' servo slowly reached for mine, and I grasped it tightly. Neither of us said anything for a few moments, simply stared into the empty light.

I broke the tension by asking, "So is this the part where you become Prime and aren't allowed to show your feelings for me anymore?"

"Never," he replied quickly, his helm darting down to meet my optics.

"I hoped you would say that, for I don't think I could have accepted any other answer," I whispered back.

We both turned back to the light, feeling that the moment to enter was right. I followed Optimus' lead as we both took a step forward, then another, then another…

It didn't take many steps before we heard a faint pulsing, almost like—"A heartbeat?" I asked softly.

"We are at Cybertron's core." Optimus stared straight ahead, and it was then that my optic caught what his was seeing.

"The Matrix!" I gasped, letting go of Optimus' hand and taking a step forward.

I had only seen it and heard of it in legend—the true mark of leadership—a relic of the Primes long searched for but only to be found by one who is worthy of its power. And here before me was that very Matrix, the Matrix of Leadership, floating about a pool of energon, its golden structure catching the light as it hovered in the middle of the pool.

Optimus' optics were wide, his face expressionless except for that wide stare. He wasn't moving, and I almost laughed at seeing him so surprised! When I let out a small chuckle and he didn't do so much as glance at me, I started to worry.

"Optimus?" I asked. No reply.

"Optimus, can you hear me?" I asked again.

"Optimus—" I was cut off from a shout when I felt my optics grow wide as well. A light even more brilliant than that of the Matrix shone through my optics, and I tried to blink, tried to move, tried to do something—but all I saw was empty space.

"Elita One, do not panic," a beautiful and soothing voice said in my helm. I couldn't move, not even speak to reply.

Suddenly, an image ran through my helm—it was the 13 Primes, each one of them. I realized that one of the Primes had spoken to me—Solus Prime? Optimus was standing before them, but he wasn't fixed in place, and his optics weren't wide like before. He took a step forward and stood before them all.

I had many questions running through my helm—what is happening to me? Why do I see the Primes? Why do I hear Solus Prime? Why is Optimus before them?

Once again, I could not ask out loud, only think these questions. Solus Prime's beautiful, melodic tones ringing in my helm once more confirmed that the Primes could indeed understand my thoughts.

"Optimus is the next Prime—Alpha Trion deemed so himself," she answered. It was then that I noticed that while the bots standing in front of Optimus were part of the 13 Primes, there were only 12.

Alpha Trion is the only Prime still living, I thought to myself, answering Solus.

"You are seeing what Optimus sees, only his is from his own perspective."

It was a beautiful but strange sight—the Primes were gathered around Optimus, and while I could not actually hear them, I could tell what was happening—the Matrix was being bestowed upon him, and the Primes were feeding him its power. I could not hear, though, since only the actual Prime could carry the wisdom and knowledge of the Matrix and the Primes. Even his own brother would be unable to access this knowledge.

Suddenly, the world snapped back into place, and I was once again staring at the Matrix. Optimus seemed to be back to himself, for he stepped forwards, almost as if the Matrix was beckoning him. He stopped before the pool of energon, and almost immediately, the Matrix lowered itself from its floating position in the middle of the pool. The gold seemed to shine brighter as it approached its new carrier, and Optimus' chestplates suddenly opened as it drew nearer, prepared to carry one of the most powerful relics of all time.

But it stopped before it reached him, and even Optimus look confused. A voice beckoned inside of me, one that could be the Primes but at the same time just my inner conscience. I followed that voice and stood next to Optimus, who grasped my servo in his.

The Matrix entered Optimus' chest, and as it locked into place, I felt some of its energy wash over me as well, although I doubted it was as powerful as Optimus'.

We were carried off the ground slowly, hovering just above the pool. A sharp pain was sent through my armor, and I could feel it shifting—changing. My armor atop my helm folded in, forming itself anew. The rest of my body grew taller, and my armor thickened and shifted, although it kept its pink color. The sensation almost hurt, yet I saw Optimus taking it as well, becoming taller and much more robust.

I shut my optics as the sensation ended, and I felt myself being blasted out of the core, still clutching Optimus' servo.

We awoke, only to find the war continuing. Cybertron was in a bitter state, even worse than before. How long had we been gone? It didn't feel like long, but time could have been passing much faster here than it had in the core.

Megatron stood at the heart of the destruction, in front of a large ship that was coming in.

His expression turned into a snarl when he laid eyes on us, and he frowned but turned back towards the ship. Autobots and Decepticons alike were continuing to fight, although what was there to fight over?

"Decepticons! Board the Nemesis!" Megatron commanded, lifting a servo into the air and leading the way to the front of the ship. The ship stopped, and a ramp folded out from it.

Beside the Decepticons was another ship, a golden one that was being boarded by Autobots. Bumblebee was at the head of it all, gesturing everyone in. He brightened up when he saw us, and he didn't ask much about the new looks.

"We have the Matrix!" Optimus declared to all surrounding Autobots, who cheered as they ran towards the ship.

Ratchet stepped out of the ship to greet us as we made our way over. "There's not much time! Cybertron is lost, and the Ark will leave soon!" he shouted.

"Understood," Optimus replied. He boarded the ship, followed by any Autobots that could fit on the ship.

I suddenly heard a cry, and I spotted Arcee, trapped underneath rubble and pleading for assistance. In the rush to get on the ship, no one had noticed her.

"Arcee!" I cried out, practically leaping over to her and kneeling down, pulling off junk and rubble and helping her to stand.

"Elita!" she cried, wrapping her servos around me. She still recognized me, I realized, although it was almost impossible for sisters to not recognize one another.

"Get on the ship!" I ordered. She immediately let go of me and ran to the ship.

I broke into a run to follow her, only to be shot down and fall to the ground with a cry.

"Did you think I was done with you?" a scratchy voice demanded. I flipped onto my back and saw Starscream smirking down at me.

"You!" I shouted, scrambling to my pedes and glaring at the second-in-command.

"You have the Matrix, or at least Optimus does!" he shouted, making a grab for me. I ducked out of the way, trying to send a punch into Starscream's faceplates but missing.

I tried again and this time managed to get him in the face, although he was angrier than before now. "Why, you—"

"Starscream! Unless you want to be left behind, I suggest getting on this ship. _Now!_ " It was Megatron who had screamed at him, as usual. Starscream growled at me but left me behind, transforming and flying to the Nemesis.

"The Ark!" I shouted, spinning on my heel and breaking into a mad dash for it. It was just about to take off.

"Optimus!" I cried out. Immediately Optimus appeared on the flight deck.

He knelt down and reached out a servo to me—the ship was starting to take off.

I grasped his servo, and he pulled me up, only for me to slip as the ship rose from the ground. I landed on the ground with a thud, unable to reach Optimus.

"Optimus!" I cried out again.

He turned back to shout inside the ship, "Land this ship immediately!"

"I'm afraid we can't do that now," a voice replied.

"No! Optimus!" I pleaded.

His optics were dimming, and his face was full of defeat. "I promise I'll come back for you!" Optimus declared.

"Please," I pleaded. Tears were forming, and I wasn't going to bother to stop them. The Ark took off, followed by the Nemesis.

And they were gone. Everyone. The Autobots and the cause that I had worked for. My sisters.

Optimus.

He said he would come back for me, but what if he couldn't? What if I really was trapped here?

"I'll never forget you," I whispered.

And I was left alone, surrounded by a destroyed Cybertron.

I caught an approaching figure out of the corner of my optic, and I whipped around and prepared to fight.

The figure held up his servos in surrender. "Please. I only want to help," the figure said.

"Alpha Trion," I said gratefully, embracing the older bot.

"Come—you cannot stay out here, for Cybertron will need to heal itself after all the damage that has been caused. You must trust that the power of the Primes will protect you. Do you trust me?" he asked.

"I do," I replied.

With that, Alpha Trion led me to the remnants of Iacon.

It's my home, for now. It's Optimus' home too, if he ever returns.

~Elita

 **If you have seen G1, then you know in one of the episodes about Optimus and Elita One—I won't spoil it!**

 **Thank you to anyone who has liked/favorite/reviewed this story! I am working on planning out my next fanfic, so we'll see how it turns out!**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Signing off, theautobotprincess.**


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